Future supernova probes of quintessence

Abstract

We investigate the potential of a future supernovae data set, as might be obtained by the proposed SNAP satellite, to discriminate between two possible explanations for the observed dimming of the high redshift type IA supernovae, namely either (i) a cosmological evolution for which the expansion of the universe has been accelerating for a substantial range of redshifts $z\goesas1$; or (ii) an unexpected supernova luminosity evolution over such a redshift range. By evaluating Bayes factors we show that within the context of spatially flat model universes with a dark energy the future SNAP data set should be able to discriminate these two possibilities. Our calculations assume particular cosmological models with a quintessence field in the form of a dynamical pseudo Nambu--Goldstone boson (PNGB), and a simple empirical model of the evolution of peak luminosities of the supernovae sources which has been recently discussed in the literature. We also show that the fiducial SNAP data set, simulated with the assumption of no source evolution, is able to discriminate the PNGB model from a number of other spatially flat quintessence models which have been widely studied in the literature, namely those with inverse power--law, simple exponential and double--exponential potentials.