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Title: MODEL-INDEPENDENT EVIDENCE FOR DARK ENERGY EVOLUTION FROM BARYON ACOUSTIC OSCILLATIONS

Abstract

Baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) allow us to determine the expansion history of the universe, thereby shedding light on the nature of dark energy. Recent observations of BAOs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR9 and DR11 have provided us with statistically independent measurements of H(z) at redshifts of 0.57 and 2.34, respectively. We show that these measurements can be used to test the cosmological constant hypothesis in a model-independent manner by means of an improved version of the Om diagnostic. Our results indicate that the SDSS DR11 measurement of H(z) = 222 ± 7 km s{sup –1} Mpc{sup –1} at z = 2.34, when taken in tandem with measurements of H(z) at lower redshifts, imply considerable tension with the standard ΛCDM model. Our estimation of the new diagnostic Omh {sup 2} from SDSS DR9 and DR11 data, namely, Omh {sup 2} ≈ 0.122 ± 0.01, which is equivalent to Ω{sub 0m} h {sup 2} for the spatially flat ΛCDM model, is in tension with the value Ω{sub 0m} h {sup 2} = 0.1426 ± 0.0025 determined for ΛCDM from Planck+WP. This tension is alleviated in models in which the cosmological constant was dynamically screened (compensated) in the past. Such evolving dark energymore » models display a pole in the effective equation of state of dark energy at high redshifts, which emerges as a smoking gun test for these theories.« less

Authors:
 [1];  [2]
  1. Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Post Bag 4, Ganeshkhind, Pune 411007 (India)
  2. Asia Pacific Center for Theoretical Physics, Pohang, Gyeongbuk 790-784 (Korea, Republic of)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22364949
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal Letters
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 793; Journal Issue: 2; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 2041-8205
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; BARYONS; COSMOLOGICAL CONSTANT; COSMOLOGY; EQUATIONS OF STATE; INFLATIONARY UNIVERSE; NONLUMINOUS MATTER; OSCILLATIONS; RED SHIFT; UNIVERSE; VISIBLE RADIATION

Citation Formats

Sahni, V., Shafieloo, A., and Starobinsky, A. A., E-mail: varun@iucaa.ernet.in, E-mail: arman@apctp.org, E-mail: alstar@landau.ac.ru. MODEL-INDEPENDENT EVIDENCE FOR DARK ENERGY EVOLUTION FROM BARYON ACOUSTIC OSCILLATIONS. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1088/2041-8205/793/2/L40.
Sahni, V., Shafieloo, A., & Starobinsky, A. A., E-mail: varun@iucaa.ernet.in, E-mail: arman@apctp.org, E-mail: alstar@landau.ac.ru. MODEL-INDEPENDENT EVIDENCE FOR DARK ENERGY EVOLUTION FROM BARYON ACOUSTIC OSCILLATIONS. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/793/2/L40
Sahni, V., Shafieloo, A., and Starobinsky, A. A., E-mail: varun@iucaa.ernet.in, E-mail: arman@apctp.org, E-mail: alstar@landau.ac.ru. 2014. "MODEL-INDEPENDENT EVIDENCE FOR DARK ENERGY EVOLUTION FROM BARYON ACOUSTIC OSCILLATIONS". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/2041-8205/793/2/L40.
@article{osti_22364949,
title = {MODEL-INDEPENDENT EVIDENCE FOR DARK ENERGY EVOLUTION FROM BARYON ACOUSTIC OSCILLATIONS},
author = {Sahni, V. and Shafieloo, A. and Starobinsky, A. A., E-mail: varun@iucaa.ernet.in, E-mail: arman@apctp.org, E-mail: alstar@landau.ac.ru},
abstractNote = {Baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) allow us to determine the expansion history of the universe, thereby shedding light on the nature of dark energy. Recent observations of BAOs in the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) DR9 and DR11 have provided us with statistically independent measurements of H(z) at redshifts of 0.57 and 2.34, respectively. We show that these measurements can be used to test the cosmological constant hypothesis in a model-independent manner by means of an improved version of the Om diagnostic. Our results indicate that the SDSS DR11 measurement of H(z) = 222 ± 7 km s{sup –1} Mpc{sup –1} at z = 2.34, when taken in tandem with measurements of H(z) at lower redshifts, imply considerable tension with the standard ΛCDM model. Our estimation of the new diagnostic Omh {sup 2} from SDSS DR9 and DR11 data, namely, Omh {sup 2} ≈ 0.122 ± 0.01, which is equivalent to Ω{sub 0m} h {sup 2} for the spatially flat ΛCDM model, is in tension with the value Ω{sub 0m} h {sup 2} = 0.1426 ± 0.0025 determined for ΛCDM from Planck+WP. This tension is alleviated in models in which the cosmological constant was dynamically screened (compensated) in the past. Such evolving dark energy models display a pole in the effective equation of state of dark energy at high redshifts, which emerges as a smoking gun test for these theories.},
doi = {10.1088/2041-8205/793/2/L40},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22364949}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal Letters},
issn = {2041-8205},
number = 2,
volume = 793,
place = {United States},
year = {Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Wed Oct 01 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}