The impact on cosmology of a primordial scaling field

A scalar field with an exponential potential has the particular property that it is attracted into a solution in which its energy scales as the dominant component (radiation or matter) of the Universe, contributing a fixed fraction of the total energy density. We briefly discuss the dynamics of such a scalar field and its impact on Big Bang nucleosynthesis, the growth of large scale structure and abundance of damped Lyman$-\alpha$ systems at high redshift. Given the simplicity of the model, its theoretical motivation, and its success in matching observations, we argue that it should be taken on par with other currently viable models of structure formation.