Constraints on the coupled quintessence from cosmic microwave background anisotropy and matter power spectrum

Abstract

We discuss the evolution of linear perturbations in a quintessence model in which the scalar field is nonminimally coupled to cold dark matter. We consider the effects of this coupling on both cosmic microwave background temperature anisotropies and matter perturbations. Because of the modification of the scale of cold dark matter as ${\ensuremath{\rho}}_{c}={\ensuremath{\rho}}_{c}^{(0)}{a}^{\ensuremath{-}3+\ensuremath{\xi}}$, we can shift the turnover in the matter power spectrum even without changing the present energy densities of matter and radiation. This can be used to constrain the strength of the coupling. We find that the phenomenology of this model is consistent with current observations up to the coupling power ${n}_{c}\ensuremath{\le}0.01$ while adopting the current parameters measured by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe. Upcoming cosmic microwave background observations continuing to focus on resolving the higher peaks may put strong constraints on the strength of the coupling.