Structure formation in inhomogeneous dark energy models

Abstract

We investigate how inhomogeneous quintessence models may have a specific signature even in the linear regime of large-scale structure formation. The dynamics of the collapse of a dark matter halo is governed by the value or the dynamical evolution of the dark energy equation of state, the energy density's initial conditions and its homogeneity nature in the highly non-linear regime. These have a direct impact on the redshift of collapse, altering in consequence the linearly extrapolated density threshold above which structures will end up collapsing. We compute this quantity for minimally coupled and coupled quintessence models, examining two extreme scenarios: first, when the quintessence field does not exhibit fluctuations on cluster scales and below - homogeneous dark energy; and secondly, when the field inside the overdensity collapses along with the dark matter - inhomogeneous dark energy. One shows that inhomogeneous dark energy models present distinct features which may be used to confront them with observational data, for instance, galaxy number counting. Fitting formulae for the linearly extrapolated density threshold above which structures will end up collapsing are provided for models of dark energy with constant equation of state.