Multifield Cosmology and the Dark Universe

Abstract

Multifield models, arising from multiple scalars interacting with gravity, provide a rich theoretical framework for addressing fundamental problems in modern cosmology. A key role in this regard is played by the so called rapid turn regime, which is characterized by background solutions with strongly non-geodesic field-space trajectories. We review the implications of this regime for a number of problems relevant for cosmological inflation, dark matter and dark energy. We focus, in more detail, on a class of exact rapid-turn solutions that give a model of dynamical dark energy. In this model, the sound speed of the dark energy perturbations is reduced compared to the speed of light, which leads to observational differences from a cosmological constant even for an equation-of-state parameter very close to -1. Furthermore, this model holds promise for the simultaneous alleviation of two prominent cosmological tensions.