Quantifying scalar field dynamics with DESI 2024 Y1 BAO measurements

Quintessence scalar fields are a natural candidate for evolving dark energy. Unlike the phenomenological w0⁢wa parameterization of the dark energy equation of state, they cannot accommodate the phantom regime of dark energy w⁡(z) 0.3. The tension under Λ ⁢CDM remains noticeable (nσ < 2.8), when replacing two of the DESI BAO redshift bins with effective redshifts zeff = 0.51, and zeff = 0.706 with comparable BOSS DR 12 BAO measurements at zeff = 0.51, and zeff = 0.61. Furthermore, canonical scalar fields as dark energy are successful in mitigating that tension.