O(N) quintessence

Abstract

We study a new class of quintessence models, in which the scalar field possesses a O(\textit{N}) internal symmetry. We give a critical condition of instability for the potential against Q ball formation. We find that the most widely used potentials of quintessence don't satisfy the above condition, and therefore the O(\textit{N}) quintessence with these potential will not lead to the Q ball formation. It is worth noting that O(\textit{N}) quintessence with cosine-type potential is especially interesting in that the angular contribution is not negligible.