Cosmology with quintessence from extra dimensions

Recent cosmological observations indicate that the Universe is filled with dark energy of unknown kind. It can be decribed by a universal scalar field called quintessence. Such fields appear in descriptions of the Universe involving extra dimensions like the old Kaluza-Klein unified theory and also the more recent string theories. In this project one will investigate one particular such theory based on having two extra dimensions in order to verify that it is consistent with more detailed observations. It is also tempting to see if this scalar field can throw light on the very early Universe when it undergoes a rapid expansions which seems to be driven by exactly such a scalar field.