Geometrical constraints on dark energy models

TL;DR

This paper provides a pedagogical overview of dark energy, focusing on geometric observational tests like supernovae, CMB, Hubble data, and baryon acoustic oscillations, emphasizing assumptions on the Universe's geometry.

Contribution

It offers a comprehensive introduction to geometric tests of dark energy, including historical context, FRW spacetime fundamentals, and statistical inference methods.

Findings

Review of observational tests for dark energy

Discussion of assumptions on Universe's geometry

Overview of statistical methods in cosmology

Abstract

This contribution intends to give a pedagogical introduction to the topic of dark energy (the mysterious agent supposed to drive the observed late time acceleration of the Universe) and to various observational tests which require only assumptions on the geometry of the Universe. Those tests are the supernovae luminosity, the CMB shift, the direct Hubble data, and the baryon acoustic oscillations test. An historical overview of Cosmology is followed by some generalities on FRW spacetimes (the best large-scale description of the Universe), and then the test themselves are discussed. A convenient section on statistical inference is included as well.