Phenomenological aspects of dark energy dominated cosmologies

Abstract

In this thesis we study some observational consequences of dark energy dominated cosmologies. After reviewing the main characteristics of quintessential models of dark energy, by using the SN Ia data and the position of the CMB peaks we constrain a class of parameterized scalar field potentials. Going beyond constraining specific classes models, we introduce a parameterization of the dark energy equation of state. Such an approach allows us to study in a model independent way the imprint dark energy leaves in the CMB power spectrum. Finally we develop a formalism to model localized CMB anisotropies and compute analytical formulae for the power spectrum and the bispectrum.Comment: PhD thesis, University of Sussex, 109 page