Observational constraints upon quintessence models arising from moduli fields

We study observational constraints on cosmological models with a quintessence arising from moduli fields. The scalar field potential is given by a double exponential potential V = V(0)exp(-Ae(root 2 kappa phi)). After reviewing the properties of the solutions, from a dynamical systems phase space analysis, we consider the constraints on parameter values imposed by luminosity distances from the 60 Type IA supernovae published by Perlmutter et al., and also from gravitational lensing statistics of distant quasars. We also update the constraints on models with a single exponential potential V = V(0)e(-lambda kappa phi). (C) 2000 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.