Observational constraints on Horava-Lifshitz cosmology

TL;DR

This paper assesses the compatibility of Horava-Lifshitz cosmological models with observational data from supernovae, BAO, and CMB, providing constraints on model parameters and evaluating their viability.

Contribution

It offers the first comprehensive observational constraints on both detailed and non-detailed balance Horava-Lifshitz cosmologies, including matter and radiation sectors.

Findings

Detailed-balance scenario is not ruled out but tightly constrained.

Beyond detailed balance scenario is compatible with data.

Horava-Lifshitz cosmology can align with current observations.

Abstract

We use observational data from Type Ia Supernovae (SNIa), Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO), and Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), along with requirements of Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), to constrain the cosmological scenarios governed by Horava-Lifshitz gravity. We consider both the detailed and non-detailed balance versions of the gravitational sector, and we include the matter and radiation sectors. We conclude that the detailed-balance scenario cannot be ruled out from the observational point of view, however the corresponding likelihood contours impose tight constraints on the involved parameters. The scenario beyond detailed balance is compatible with observational data, and we present the corresponding stringent constraints and contour-plots of the parameters. Although this analysis indicates that Horava-Lifshitz cosmology can be compatible with observations, it does not enlighten the discussion about its possible conceptual and theoretical problems.