Cluster Abundance Constraints on Quintessence Models

Abstract

The abundance of rich clusters is a strong constraint on the mass power spectrum. The current constraint can be expressed in the form $σ_8 Ω_m^γ = 0.5 \pm 0.1$ where $σ_8$ is the $rms$ mass fluctuation on 8 $h^{-1}$ Mpc scales, $Ω_m$ is the ratio of matter density to the critical density, and $γ$ is model-dependent. In this paper, we determine a general expression for $γ$ that applies to any models with a mixture of cold dark matter plus cosmological constant or quintessence (a time-evolving, spatially-inhomogeneous component with negative pressure) including dependence on the spectral index $n$, the Hubble constant $h$, and the equation-of-state of the quintessence component $w$. The cluster constraint is combined with COBE measurements to identify a spectrum of best-fitting models. The constraint from the evolution of rich clusters is also discussed.