Recent analyses from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) collaboration suggest that the dark energy density of the Universe may be decreasing with time, slowing the acceleration of the scale factor $a$. Typically these studies are performed assuming an ansatz for the equation of state $w(a)$. In this work, we instead consider simple models of a scalar quintessence potential with linear and quadratic behavior, which could be more representative of real models than particular parametrizations of $w(a)$. We observe a significant preference for dynamical dark energy when using supernova data from the Dark Energy Survey year 5 along with DESI baryonic acoustic oscillation and Planck data, at the cost of slightly exacerbating the Hubble tension. However, when using supernova data from $\mathrm{Pantheon}+$ or Union3, we find only a mild preference for dynamical dark energy.

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• Cosmology
• Dark energy