Keywords
Cosmology
Quintessence
K-Essence
Phantom Fields
How to Cite
Share
Abstract
Dark energy, responsible for nearly 70% of the total energy density of the Universe, remains one of the most fundamental open problems in modern cosmology. While the ΛCDM model attributes cosmic acceleration to a cosmological constant, theoretical challenges such as the fine-tuning and coincidence problems motivate the exploration of dynamic dark energy (DDE) models. This study presents a systematic review of scalar-field dark energy models, including quintessence, k-essence, phantom, and tachyon fields, published between 2015 and 2025. Following PRISMA 2020 guidelines, literature searches were conducted in Scopus, Web of Science, and NASA ADS. From 254 identified records, 112 studies met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. The results show that quintessence models dominate the literature and remain broadly consistent with current cosmological observations, while k-essence models provide alternative mechanisms through non-canonical kinetic terms. Phantom and tachyon models offer theoretical extensions but present stability challenges. Upcoming surveys such as Euclid, LSST, and JWST are expected to significantly improve constraints on the evolution of dark energy.
References
Armendariz-Picon, C., Mukhanov, V., & Steinhardt, P. J. (2001). Essentials of k-essence. Physical Review D, 63(10), 103510. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.63.103510
Basilakos, S., & Nesseris, S. (2023). Constraints on quintessence models with Euclid forecasts. Physical Review D, 108(6), 063504. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.108.063504
Caldwell, R. R. (2002). A phantom menace? Cosmological consequences of a dark energy component with super-negative equation of state. Physics Letters B, 545(1–2), 23–29. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0370-2693(02)02589-3
Copeland, E. J., Sami, M., & Tsujikawa, S. (2006). Dynamics of dark energy. International Journal of Modern Physics D, 15(11), 1753–1936. https://doi.org/10.1142/S021827180600942X
Eisenstein, D. J., Zehavi, I., Hogg, D. W., Scoccimarro, R., Blanton, M. R., Nichol, R. C., … Tegmark, M. (2005). Detection of the baryon acoustic peak in the large-scale correlation function of SDSS luminous red galaxies. The Astrophysical Journal, 633(2), 560–574. https://doi.org/10.1086/466512
Huterer, D., & Shafer, D. L. (2018). Dark energy two decades after its discovery: Observables, probes, consistency tests. Reports on Progress in Physics, 81(1), 016901. https://doi.org/10.1088/1361-6633/aa997e
Padmanabhan, T. (2002). Accelerated expansion of the universe driven by tachyonic matter. Physical Review D, 66(2), 021301. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.66.021301
Perlmutter, S., Aldering, G., Goldhaber, G., Knop, R. A., Nugent, P., Castro, P. G., … Supernova Cosmology Project. (1999). Measurements of Ω and Λ from 42 high-redshift supernovae. The Astrophysical Journal, 517(2), 565–586. https://doi.org/10.1086/307221
Planck Collaboration. (2018). Planck 2018 results. VI. Cosmological parameters. Astronomy & Astrophysics, 641, A6. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201833910
Riess, A. G., Filippenko, A. V., Challis, P., Clocchiatti, A., Diercks, A., Garnavich, P. M., … Schmidt, B. P. (1998). Observational evidence from supernovae for an accelerating universe and a cosmological constant. The Astronomical Journal, 116(3), 1009–1038. https://doi.org/10.1086/300499
Tsujikawa, S. (2013). Quintessence: A review. Classical and Quantum Gravity, 30(21), 214003. https://doi.org/10.1088/0264-9381/30/21/214003
Weinberg, S. (1989). The cosmological constant problem. Reviews of Modern Physics, 61(1), 1–23. https://doi.org/10.1103/RevModPhys.61.1
Yang, W., Pan, S., & Mota, D. F. (2021). Dark energy models after Planck and DES: Observational constraints and theoretical implications. Physical Review D, 103(8), 083517. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.103.083517
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2026 Marina CORRÊA FREITAS (Author)