Claim ds-010 · Atlas v1.2.0

If metastable de Sitter vacua are excluded, dark energy would have to be dynamical — a rolling scalar field rather than a constant.

ds-010Active research

If metastable de Sitter vacua are excluded, dark energy would have to be dynamical — a rolling scalar field rather than a constant.

Why it is stated this way
Quintessence is the standard fallback if the swampland position is correct, and it is where the conjectures make contact with data that can actually be measured.
Scope and limitations
This is a conditional claim, not a claim that dark energy is dynamical. Bounds near w = −1 constrain rolling models; one 2023 reanalysis in the source set finds newer data allows slightly more freedom in the criteria rather than tightening the tension, while raising a separate fine-tuning problem from constraints on moduli-electromagnetic couplings.
Sources

Last reviewed 2026-07-27 · Atlas v1.2.0

← Back to the ledger

Source cards — 3

VerifiedPrimary paper2018

Cosmological implications of the swampland conjectures ↗

Authors
Agrawal, Obied, Steinhardt, Vafa
ID
arXiv:1806.09718

Why this source is here — The paper drawing out what the conjectures imply for cosmology, cited as the origin of the quintessence branch of the debate.

Title not recorded in the source map; named here as the source map names it.

VerifiedObservational or experimental result2018

Equation-of-state bounds on swampland quintessence ↗

Authors
Heisenberg, Bartelmann, Brandenberger, Refregier
ID
arXiv:1808.02877

Why this source is here — Equation-of-state bounds constraining swampland quintessence, cited wherever the atlas refers to w near minus one.

Title not recorded in the source map; named here as the source map names it.

VerifiedObservational or experimental result2023

News from the Swampland — constraining string theory with astrophysics and cosmology ↗

Authors
Schöneberg, Vacher, Dias, Carvalho, Martins
ID
arXiv:2307.15060
Journal
JCAP 2023(10), 039; doi:10.1088/1475-7516/2023/10/039

Why this source is here — A data-side reassessment that runs against the expected direction, finding newer data allows slightly more freedom in the criteria. Cited so the atlas does not present the observational trend as one-way.