Reconstructing the dark energy density in light of DESI BAO observations

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Main Authors: Berti, Maria, Bellini, Emilio, Bonvin, Camille, Kunz, Martin, Viel, Matteo, Zumalacarregui, Miguel
Format: Preprint
Published: 2025
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author Berti, Maria
Bellini, Emilio
Bonvin, Camille
Kunz, Martin
Viel, Matteo
Zumalacarregui, Miguel
author_facet Berti, Maria
Bellini, Emilio
Bonvin, Camille
Kunz, Martin
Viel, Matteo
Zumalacarregui, Miguel
contents In light of the evidence for dynamical dark energy (DE) found from the most recent Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements, we perform a non-parametric, model-independent reconstruction of the DE density evolution. To do so, we develop and validate a new framework that reconstructs the DE density through a third-degree piece-wise polynomial interpolation, allowing for direct constraints on its redshift evolution without assuming any specific functional form. The strength of our approach resides in the choice of directly reconstructing the DE density, which provides a more straightforward relation to the distances measured by BAO than the equation of state parameter. We investigate the constraining power of cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations combined with supernovae (SNe) and BAO measurements. In agreement with results from other works, we find a preference for deviations from $Λ$CDM, with a significance of $2.4σ$ when using the Dark Energy Survey Year 5 (DESY5) SNe data, and $1.3σ$ with PantheonPlus. In all the cases we consider, the derived DE equation of state parameter presents evidence for phantom crossing. By investigating potential systematic effects in the low-redshift samples of DESY5 observations, we confirm that correcting for the offset in apparent magnitude with respect to PantheonPlus data, as suggested in previous studies, completely removes the tension. Furthermore, we assess the risk of potentially overfitting the data by changing the number of interpolation nodes. As expected, we find that with lesser nodes we get a smoother reconstructed behavior of the DE density, although with similar overall features. The pipeline developed in this work is ready to be used with future high-precision data to further investigate the evidence for a non-standard background evolution.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2503_13198
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Reconstructing the dark energy density in light of DESI BAO observations
Berti, Maria
Bellini, Emilio
Bonvin, Camille
Kunz, Martin
Viel, Matteo
Zumalacarregui, Miguel
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
In light of the evidence for dynamical dark energy (DE) found from the most recent Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements, we perform a non-parametric, model-independent reconstruction of the DE density evolution. To do so, we develop and validate a new framework that reconstructs the DE density through a third-degree piece-wise polynomial interpolation, allowing for direct constraints on its redshift evolution without assuming any specific functional form. The strength of our approach resides in the choice of directly reconstructing the DE density, which provides a more straightforward relation to the distances measured by BAO than the equation of state parameter. We investigate the constraining power of cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations combined with supernovae (SNe) and BAO measurements. In agreement with results from other works, we find a preference for deviations from $Λ$CDM, with a significance of $2.4σ$ when using the Dark Energy Survey Year 5 (DESY5) SNe data, and $1.3σ$ with PantheonPlus. In all the cases we consider, the derived DE equation of state parameter presents evidence for phantom crossing. By investigating potential systematic effects in the low-redshift samples of DESY5 observations, we confirm that correcting for the offset in apparent magnitude with respect to PantheonPlus data, as suggested in previous studies, completely removes the tension. Furthermore, we assess the risk of potentially overfitting the data by changing the number of interpolation nodes. As expected, we find that with lesser nodes we get a smoother reconstructed behavior of the DE density, although with similar overall features. The pipeline developed in this work is ready to be used with future high-precision data to further investigate the evidence for a non-standard background evolution.
title Reconstructing the dark energy density in light of DESI BAO observations
topic Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2503.13198