Voids of dark energy

Abstract

We investigate the clustering properties of a dynamical dark energy component. In a cosmic mix of a pressureless fluid and a light scalar field, we follow the linear evolution of spherical matter perturbations. We find that the scalar field tends to form underdensities in response to the gravitationally collapsing matter. We thoroughly investigate these voids for a variety of initial conditions, explain the physics behind their formation and consider possible observational implications. Detection of dark energy voids will clearly rule out the cosmological constant as the main source of the present acceleration.

9 pages, 13 figures V3: typo in equation (11) corrected

References in corpus (3)

• Gauss-Bonnet Quintessence: Background Evolution, Large Scale Structure and Cosmological Constraints
• Crossing the Phantom Divide
• Quintessence reconstructed: new constraints and tracker viability

Cited by in corpus (13)

• Structure formation in the presence of dark energy perturbations
• The spherical collapse model and cluster formation beyond the $\Lambda$ cosmology: Indications for a clustered dark energy?
• Scalar Field Dark Energy Perturbations and their Scale Dependence
• Dynamical Mutation of Dark Energy
• The signature of dark energy perturbations in galaxy cluster surveys
• New Parametrization for the Scale Dependent Growth Function in General Relativity
• A new perspective on the relation between dark energy perturbations and the late-time ISW effect
• Probing Dark Energy at Galactic and Cluster Scales
• Clustering Properties of Dynamical Dark Energy Models
• A comparison of perturbations in fluid and scalar field models of dark energy
• Dynamical evolutin of quintessence dark energy in collapsing dark matter halos
• Perturbed dark energy: classical scalar field versus tachyon
• Voids and overdensities of coupled Dark Energy