The variation of the dark energy field is found under the assumption that the dark energy is parametric and interacts with the cold dark matter. Considering that the variation of the field could not exceed the Planck mass, we obtain bounds on the coupling and adiabatic coefficients. Three parametrizations of the adiabatic coefficients are considered and two coupling terms where the energy flows from dark energy to dark matter, or the other way around.
The contribution of vacuum fluctuations to the cosmological constant is reconsidered studying the dependence on the used regularisation scheme. Then alternative explanations for the observed accelerated expansion of the universe in the present epoch are introduced which either modify gravity or add a new component of matter, dubbed dark energy. The chapter closes with some comments on attempts to quantise gravity.