To curve, or not to curve: Is curvature-assisted quintessence observationally viable?

Abstract

Single-field models of accelerated expansion with nearly flat potentials, despite being able to provide observationally viable explanations for the early-time cosmic inflation and the late-time cosmic acceleration, are in strong tension with string theory evidence and the associated de Sitter swampland constraints. It has recently been argued that in an open universe, where the spatial curvature is negative (i.e., with ${\Omega }_k>0$), a new stable fixed point arises, which may lead to viable single-field-based accelerated expansion with an arbitrarily steep potential. Here, we show, through a dynamical systems analysis and a Bayesian statistical inference of cosmological parameters, that the additional cosmological solutions based on the new fixed point do not render steep-potential, single-field, accelerated expansion observationally viable. We mainly focus on quintessence models of dark energy, but we also argue that a similar conclusion can be drawn for cosmic inflation.

arXiv comment13 pages, 6 figures. v3: version published in PRD

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• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Swampland: The Cosmologist's Handbook to the string-theoretical Swampland Programme
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• Effect of Moduli Redefinitions on Fibre Inflation
• Breaking Free from the Swampland of Impossible Universes through the DESI Portal
• Constraining Spatial Curvature with Priors from Swampland Conjectures