We study the nonlinear regime of unified dark energy models, using generalized Chaplygin gas cosmologies as a representative example, and introduce a new parameter characterizing the level of small scale clustering in these scenarios. We show that viable generalized Chaplygin gas cosmologies, consistent with the most recent observational constraints, may be constructed for any value of the generalized Chaplygin gas parameter by considering models with a sufficiently high level of nonlinear clustering.

• Received 17 November 2013

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.89.103004