ΛCDM as a Noether symmetry in cosmology

Abstract

The standard [Formula: see text]CDM model of cosmology is formulated as a simple modified gravity coupled to a single scalar field (“darkon”) possessing a nontrivial hidden nonlinear Noether symmetry. The main ingredient in the construction is the use of the formalism of non-Riemannian spacetime volume-elements. The associated Noether conserved current produces stress–energy tensor consisting of two additive parts — dynamically generated dark energy and dark matter components noninteracting among themselves. Noether symmetry breaking via an additional scalar “darkon” potential introduces naturally an interaction between dark energy and dark matter. The correspondence between the [Formula: see text]CDM model and the present “darkon” Noether symmetry is exhibited up to linear order with respect to gravity-matter perturbations. With the Cosmic Chronometers (CC) and the Redshift Space Distortion (RSD) datasets, we study an example for the “darkon” potential that breaks the Noether symmetry and we show that the preservation of this symmetry yields a better fit.