1 research outputs found
Resolving the Cosmological Missing Energy Problem
Some form of missing energy may account for the difference between the
observed cosmic matter density and the critical density. Two leading candidates
are a cosmological constant and quintessence (a time-varying, inhomogenous
component with negative pressure). We show that an ideal, full-sky cosmic
background anisotropy experiment may not be able to distinguish the two, even
when non-linear effects due to gravitational lensing are included. Due to this
ambiguity, microwave background experiments alone may not determine the matter
density or Hubble constant very precisely. We further show that degeneracy may
remain even after considering classical cosmological tests and measurements of
large scale structure.Comment: 6 pages, Latex, 4 postscript figures; revised analysis to include
gravitational lensin