Unifying the dark sector through a single matter fluid with nonzero pressure

2024

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DOI 10.1103/physrevd.109.023510
Data confidence 85 high
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Abstract

We explore a generalized unified dark energy model that incorporates a nonminimal interaction between a tachyonic fluid and an additional scalar field. Specifically, we require that the second field possesses a vacuum energy, introducing an ineliminable offset due to a symmetry-breaking mechanism. After the transition (occurring as due to the symmetry-breaking mechanism of the second field), the corresponding equation of state (EoS) takes the form of a combination between a generalized Chaplygin gas (GCG) component and a cosmological constant contribution. We reinterpret this outcome by drawing parallels to the so-called Murnaghan EoS, widely-employed in the realm of solid-state physics to characterise fluids that, under external pressure, counteract the pressure's effect. We examine the dynamic behavior of this model and highlight its key distinctions compared to the GCG model. We establish parameter bounds that clarifies the model's evolution across cosmic expansion history, showing that it, precisely, exhibits behavior akin to a logotropic fluid that eventually converges to the $\mathrm{\ensuremath{\Lambda}}\mathrm{CDM}$ model in the early universe, while behaving as a logotropic or Chaplygin gas at intermediate and late times respectively. We explain our findings from a thermodynamic perspective, and determine the small perturbations in the linear regime. At very early times, the growth factor flattens as expected while the main departures occur at late times, where the Murnagham EoS results in a more efficient growth of perturbations. We discuss this deviation in view of current observations and conclude that our model is a suitable alternative to the standard cosmological paradigm, introducing the concept of a matterlike field with nonzero pressure.