Early Quintessence in Light of WMAP

Abstract

We examine the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy for signatures of early quintessence dark energy -- a non-negligible quintessence energy density during the recombination and structure formation eras. Only very recently does the quintessence overtake the dark matter and push the expansion into overdrive. Because the presence of early quintessence exerts an influence on the clustering of dark matter and the baryon-photon fluid, we may expect to find trace signals in the CMB and the mass fluctuation power spectrum. In detail, we demonstrate that suppressed clustering power on small length-scales, as suggested by the combined Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) / CMB / large scale structure data set, is characteristic of early quintessence. We identify a set of concordant models, and map out directions for further investigation of early quintessence.