We study a dark energy scenario in the presence of a tachyon field $\varphi$ with potential $V(\varphi )$ and a barotropic perfect fluid. The cosmological dynamics crucially depends on the asymptotic behavior of the quantity $\lambda =-M_p{V}_{\varphi }/V^{3/2}$. If $\lambda$ is a constant, which corresponds to an inverse square potential $V(\varphi )\propto {\varphi }^{-2}$, there exists one stable critical point that gives an acceleration of the Universe at late times. When $\lambda \to 0$ asymptotically, we can have a viable dark energy scenario in which the system approaches an instantaneous critical point that dynamically changes with $\lambda$. If $|\lambda |$ approaches infinity asymptotically, the Universe does not exhibit an acceleration at late times. In this case, however, we find an interesting possibility that a transient acceleration occurs in a regime where $|\lambda |$ is smaller than of order unity.

• Received 25 November 2004

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevD.71.043003