Are f(R) dark energy models cosmologically viable ?
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All $f(R)$ modified gravity theories are conformally identical to models of quintessence in which matter is coupled to dark energy with a strong coupling. This coupling induces a cosmological evolution radically different from standard cosmology. We find that in all $f(R)$ theories that behave as a power of $R$ at large or small $R$ (which include most of those proposed so far in the literature) the scale factor during the matter phase grows as $t^{1/2}$ instead of the standard law $t^{2/3}$. This behaviour is grossly inconsistent with cosmological observations (e.g. WMAP), thereby ruling out these models even if they pass the supernovae test and can escape the local gravity constraints.
4 pages; v2: revised figure and minor changes to match version accepted on Phys. Rev. Lett
4 pages; v2: revised figure and minor changes to match version accepted on Phys. Rev. Lett