Bound Dark Energy: a particle's origin of dark energy

Abstract

Dark energy, the enigmatic force driving the accelerated cosmic expansion of the universe, is conventionally described as a cosmological constant in the standard $\Lambda$CDM model. However, measurements from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) reports a $> 2.5\sigma$ preference for dynamical dark energy, with baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) data favoring a time varying equation of state $w(z)$ over the cosmological constant ($w=-1$). We present the Bound Dark Energy (BDE) model, where dark energy originates from the lightest meson field $\phi$ in a dark SU(3) gauge sector, emerging dynamically via non perturbative interactions. Governed by an inverse-power-law potential $V(\phi)=\Lambda_{c}^{4 + 2/3}\phi^{-2/3}$, BDE has no free parameters, one less than $\Lambda$CDM and three less than $w_{0}w_{a}$CDM models. Combining the DESI BAO measurements, cosmic microwave background data, and Dark Energy Survey SN Ia distance measurements from the fifth year, BDE achieves a $42\%$ and $37\%$ reduction in the reduced $\chi^{2}_{BAO}$ compared to $w_{0}w_{a}$CDM and $\Lambda$CDM, respectively, while having an equivalent fit for type Ia supernovae and the cosmic microwave background data. The model predicts a dark energy equation of state transitioning from radiation like $w=1/3$ at early times ($a < a_{c}$) to $ w_{0}=-0.9301 \pm 0.0004$ at present time. The ($w_{0},w_{a}$) contour is 10,000 times smaller in BDE than in $w_{0}w_{a}$CDM model, while having an equivalent cosmological fit. Key parameters the condensation energy scale $\Lambda_{c}=43.806 \pm 0.19$ eV and epoch $a_{c}=2.4972 \pm 0.011 \times 10^{-6}$ align with high-energy physics predictions. These results, consistent with current observational bounds, establish BDE as a predictive framework that unifies particle physics and cosmology, offering a first-principles resolution to dark energy dynamical nature.