Supernovae Ia, evolution and quintessence

Abstract

Quintessence models with a dark energy generated by pseudo Nambu-Goldstone bosons provide a natural framework in which to test the possibility that type Ia supernovae luminosity distance measurements are at least partially due to an evolution of the sources, since these models can have parameter values for which the expansion of the Universe is decelerating as well as values for which it is accelerating, while being spatially flat in all cases and allowing for a low density of clumped matter. The results of a recent investigation (astro-ph/0004138) of current observational bounds which allow for SNe Ia source evolution are discussed. It is found that models with source evolution still favour cosmologies with an appreciable amount of acceleration in the recent past, but that the region of parameter space which is most favoured shifts significantly.