On Oscillating Dark Energy

Distance-redshift data can impose strong constraints on dark energy models even when the equation of state is oscillatory. Despite the double integral dependence of the distance on the equation of state, precision measurement of the distance-redshift relation for z=0-2 is more incisive than the linear growth factor, CMB last scattering surface distance, and the age of the universe in distinguishing oscillatory behavior from an average behavior. While oscillating models might help solve the coincidence problem (since acceleration occurs periodically), next generation observations will strongly constrain such possibilities.