Dark energy–matter equivalence by the evolution of cosmic equation of state

Abstract

We consider a model-independent approach to constrain the equivalence redshift, zeq, at which dark energy and the total matter (cold dark matter and baryonic) equate their magnitudes. To this aim, in the context of a homogeneous and isotropic universe, we first consider a generic model where the dark energy contribution is provided by an unknown function of barotropic fluids. Afterwards, we compute the deceleration and jerk parameters, evaluating at our epoch, namely z=0, and at z=zeq. Thus, by Taylor expanding around current time the Hubble rate, luminosity and angular distances, we substitute the theoretical expressions obtained from the aforementioned generic dark energy model, defining a correspondence between quantities evaluated at z=0 and z=zeq. In so doing, we directly fit these quantities by means of current data sets, involving the most recent Pantheon type Ia supernovae, baryonic acoustic oscillation and Hubble rate points. We consider two hierarchies in our fitting procedures and compare our findings in the spatially-flat universe first and including spatial curvature, later. We assess constraints on the overall equation of state of the universe and its first derivative. We compare our results with those predicted by the standard ΛCDM paradigm. Specifically, our findings are in agreement at the 2σ confidence level, assuming a constant dark energy term. However, our analysis does not rule out the possibility of a slight evolution of dark energy, indicating a small deviation from the scenario of a pure cosmological constant. In particular, the possible departures appear consistent with a phenomenological ωCDM model, rather than more complicated dark energy parameterizations.