Constraints on Chaplygin quartessence from the CLASS gravitational lens statistics and supernova data

Abstract

The nature of the dark components (dark matter and dark energy) that dominate the current cosmic evolution is a completely open question at present. In reality, we do not even know if they really constitute two separated substances. In this paper we use the recent Cosmic All Sky Survey (CLASS) lensing sample to test the predictions of one of the candidates for a unified dark matter/energy scenario, the so-called generalized Chaplygin gas (Cg) which is parametrized by an equation of state $p = -A/\rho_{Cg}^{\alpha}$ where $A$ and $\alpha$ are arbitrary constants. We show that, although the model is in good agreement with this radio source gravitational lensing sample, the limits obtained from CLASS statistics are only marginally compatible with the ones obtained from other cosmological tests. We also investigate the constraints on the free parameters of the model from a joint analysis between CLASS and supernova data.