Constraints on unified models for dark matter and dark energy using <Emphasis Type="Italic">H</Emphasis>(<Emphasis Type="Italic">z</Emphasis>)

The differential age data of astrophysical objects that have evolved passively during the history of the universe (e.g. red galaxies) allows us to test theoretical cosmological models through the predicted Hubble function expressed in terms of the redshift z, H(z). We use the observational data for H(z) to test unified scenarios for dark matter and dark energy. Specifically, we focus our analysis on the Generalized Chaplygin Gas (GCG) and the viscous fluid (VF) models. For the GCG model, it is shown that the unified scenario for dark energy and dark matter requires some priors. For the VF model we obtain estimations for the free parameters, which may be compared with further analysis mainly at perturbative level.