Dynamics of dark energy models and centre manifolds

We analyse dark energy models where self-interacting three-forms or phantom fields drive the accelerated expansion of the Universe. The dynamics of such models is often studied by rewriting the cosmological field equations in the form of a system of autonomous differential equations, or simply a dynamical system. Properties of these systems are usually studied via linear stability theory. In situations where this method fails, for instance due to the presence of zero eigenvalues in the Jacobian, centre manifold theory can be applied. We present a concise introduction and show explicitly how to use this theory in two concrete examples. (C) 2012 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.