Dark Energy from $\alpha$-Attractors

Abstract

A class of inflation theories called $\alpha$-attractors has been investigated recently with interesting properties interpolating between quadratic potentials, the Starobinsky model, and an attractor limit. Here we examine their use for late time cosmic acceleration. We generalize the class and demonstrate how it can interpolate between thawing and freezing dark energy, and reduce the fine tuning of initial conditions, allowing $w\approx-1$ for a prolonged period or as a de Sitter attractor.