Slow-roll freezing quintessence

We examine the evolution of quintessence models with potentials satisfying (V'/V)2 << 1 and V ''/V << 1, in the case where the initial field velocity is nonzero. We derive an analytic approximation for the evolution of the equation of state parameter, w, for the quintessence field. We show that such models are characterized by an initial rapid freezing phase, in which the equation of state parameter w decreases with time, followed by slow thawing evolution, for which w increases with time. These models resemble constant-V models at early times but diverge at late times. Our analytic approximation gives results in excellent agreement with exact numerical evolution. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.