Cosmic microwave background and large-scale structure constraints on a simple quintessential inflation model

We derive constraints on a simple quintessential inflation model, based on a spontaneously broken Φ4 theory, imposed by the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe three-year data (WMAP3) and by galaxy clustering results from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). We find that the scale of symmetry breaking must be larger than about 3 Planck masses in order for inflation to generate acceptable values of the scalar spectral index and of the tensor-to-scalar ratio. We also show that the resulting quintessence equation of state can evolve rapidly at recent times and hence can potentially be distinguished from a simple cosmological constant in this parameter regime. © 2007 The American Physical Society.