Testing quintessence models with large-scale structure growth - art. no. 083501

We explore the possibility of putting constraints on quintessence models wi th large-scale structure observations. In particular, we compute the linear and second order growth rate of the fluctuations in different flavors of q uintessence scenarios. We show that effective models of quintessence (e.g., with a constant equation of state) do not account for the results found in more realistic scenarios. The impact of these results on observational qua ntities such as the shape of the nonlinear power spectrum in weak tensing s urveys or the skewness of the convergence field is investigated. It appears that the observational signature of quintessence models is specific and ra ther large. The effects clearly cannot be mistaken for a change of Omega (o ).