Simple numerical implementation of general dark energy models

Abstract

We present a formalism for the numerical implementation of general theories of dark energy, combining the computational simplicity of the equation of state for perturbations approach with the generality of the effective field theory approach. An effective fluid description is employed, based on a general action describing single-scalar field models. The formalism is developed from first principles, and constructed keeping the goal of a simple implementation into CAMB in mind. Benefits of this approach include its straightforward implementation, the generality of the underlying theory, the fact that the evolved variables are physical quantities, and that model-independent phenomenological descriptions may be straightforwardly investigated. We hope this formulation will provide a powerful tool for the comparison of theoretical models of dark energy with observational data.