Time and distance constraints on accelerating cosmological models

TL;DR

This paper evaluates various alternative cosmological models that explain cosmic acceleration without relying on the standard cosmological constant, using observational data from galaxy ages and acoustic scale measurements.

Contribution

It assesses the observational viability of alternative acceleration models and ranks them against the standard $\\Lambda$CDM model using information criteria.

Findings

Some models fit the data better than $\\Lambda$CDM.

Age measurements and acoustic scale data are effective in constraining models.

Model ranking suggests potential alternatives to standard cosmology.

Abstract

The absence of guidance from fundamental physics about the mechanism behind cosmic acceleration has given rise to a number of alternative cosmological scenarios. These are based either on modifications of general relativistic gravitation theory on large scales or on the existence of new fields in Nature. In this paper we investigate the observational viability of some accelerating cosmological models in light of 32 age measurements of passively evolving galaxies as a function of redshift and recent estimates of the product of the cosmic microwave background acoustic scale and the baryonic acoustic oscillation peak scale. By using information-criteria model selection, we select the best-fit models and rank the alternative scenarios. We show that some of these models may provide a better fit to the data than does the current standard cosmological constant dominated ($\Lambda$CDM) model.