Hybrid Quintessence with an End or Quintessence from Branes and Large Dimensions

Abstract

We describe a model of hybrid quintessence in which in addition to the tracker field there is a trigger field which is responsible for ending quintessence. As a result, hybrid quintessence does not suffer from the problems associated with the eternal acceleration of the universe. We derive the hybrid quintessence potential on branes from the interbrane interaction in string theory and show that it requires TeV scale strings and two millimeter size dimensions. This scenario predicts a dark energy density of $O(mm^{-4})$ and relates the smallness of this energy to the large size of the extra dimensions.