Ultraviolet completion of inverse power-law early dark energy potentials

Determine whether scalar-field potentials with an inverse power-law asymptotic tail, such as the potential used in the inverse power-law early dark energy model, can be embedded into an ultraviolet-complete theory.

Background

The paper introduces an early dark energy model based on a canonical scalar field with the potential V(φ) = V₀[1 + (φ/f)²]⁻ⁿ, whose large-field behavior has an inverse power-law asymptotic tail. This construction is motivated partly by fine-tuning and ultraviolet-theory challenges affecting existing early dark energy models.

Although the inverse power-law potential can alleviate the Hubble tension phenomenologically, the paper does not establish whether potentials of this type arise consistently within an ultraviolet-complete theory. Resolving this question would clarify the theoretical viability of the proposed early dark energy scenario.