Alexei STAROBINSKY (Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Moscow)
Dark Energy
2
lectures: 5, 6 December 2006
1. Definition and observational
appearance of dark energy (DE). Its main possible forms: a cosmological
constant, physical and geometrical DE. "Fine tuning" and "coincidence"
problems - how many and if any? Anthropic explanation - does it work
and does it needed?
2. Reconstruction of DE
properties from observations: a) from background evolution of a FRW
cosmological model; b) from the rate of growth of small perturbations
in the non-relativistic matter component (cold dark matter + baryons).
3. Microscopic models of a
cosmological constant (the Casimir effect or vacuum polarization due to
additional spatial dimensions, string theory models) and variable DE:
a) of physical DE - quintessence, Chaplygin gas; b) of geometrical DE -
scalar-tensor models, f(R) models, the Dvali-Gabadadze-Porrati model.
References:
1. V. Sahni and A.A. Starobinsky.
Reconstructing dark energy.
IJMPD, 2006, to be published; astro-ph/0610026.
2. R. Gannouji, D. Polarski, A. Ranquet and A.A. Starobinsky.
Scalar-tensor models of normal and phantom dark energy.
JCAP 0609 (2006) 016; astro-ph/0606287.
Lecture notes