The Acceleration of the Universe, a Challenge for String Theory

TL;DR

The paper discusses how the observed acceleration of the universe challenges string theory because models explaining acceleration lead to event horizons, similar to de Sitter spaces, complicating theoretical consistency.

Contribution

It highlights the difficulty of reconciling quintessence-driven acceleration with string theory due to the emergence of event horizons.

Findings

Quintessence models tend to cause eternal acceleration.

Eternal acceleration results in spacetimes with event horizons.

Event horizons pose problems for string theory formulations.

Abstract

Recent astronomical observations indicate that the universe is accelerating. We argue that generic quintessence models that accommodate the present day acceleration tend to accelerate eternally. As a consequence the resulting spacetimes exhibit event horizons. Hence, quintessence poses the same problems for string theory as asymptotic de Sitter spaces.