EDP Sciences Journals List
Advanced Search
Subscriber Authentication Point
Home All issues Volume 507/1 Article
Free access article

Issue A&A
Volume 507, Number 1, November III 2009
Page(s) 47 - 52
Section Cosmology (including clusters of galaxies)
DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/200912661
Published online 03 September 2009

A&A 507, 47-52 (2009)
DOI: 10.1051/0004-6361/200912661

Could dark matter interactions be an alternative to dark energy?

S. Basilakos1 and M. Plionis2

1  Research Center for Astronomy, Academy of Athens, 11527 Athens, Greece
    e-mail: svasil@academyofathens.gr; mplionis@astro.noa.gr
2  Institute of Astronomy & Astrophysics, National Observatory of Athens, Thessio 11810, Athens, Greece & Instituto Nacional de Astrofísica, Óptica y Electrónica, 72000 Puebla, Mexico

Received 6 June 2009 / Accepted 3 August 2009

Abstract
We study the global dynamics of the universe within the framework of the interacting dark matter (IDM) scenario. Assuming that the dark matter obeys the collisional Boltzmann equation, we can derive analytical solutions of the global density evolution, that can accommodate an accelerated expansion, equivalent to either the quintessence or the standard $\Lambda$ models, with the present time located after the inflection point. This is possible if there is a disequilibrium between the DM particle creation and annihilation processes with the former process dominating, which creates an effective source term with negative pressure. Comparing the predicted Hubble expansion of one of the IDM models (the simplest) with observational data, we find that the effective annihilation term is quite small, as suggested by various experiments.


Key words: cosmology: theory -- methods: analytical



© ESO 2009


What is OpenURL?

The OpenURL standard is a protocol for transmission of metadata describing the resource that you wish to access. An OpenURL link contains article metadata and directs it to the OpenURL server of your choice. The OpenURL server can provide access to the resource and also offer complementary services (specific search engine, export of references...). The OpenURL link can be generated by different means.
  • If your librarian has set up your subscription with an OpenURL resolver, OpenURL links appear automatically on the abstract pages.
  • You can define your own OpenURL resolver with your EDPS Account. In this case your choice will be given priority over that of your library.
  • You can use an add-on for your browser (Firefox or I.E.) to display OpenURL links on a page (see http://www.openly.com/openurlref/). You should disable this module if you wish to use the OpenURL server that you or your library have defined.