Testing the phenomenological interacting dark energy with observational $H(z)$ data

TL;DR

This paper tests a phenomenological model of interacting dark energy using diverse observational data, finding that standard Lambda-CDM remains a good fit but slight evidence favors energy transfer from dark matter to dark energy.

Contribution

It introduces and constrains a new interacting dark energy model with observational data, providing more stringent parameter bounds than previous studies.

Findings

Standard Lambda-CDM model remains consistent with data.

Slight preference for energy transfer from dark matter to dark energy.

H(z) data improves constraints when combined with other observations.

Abstract

In order to test the possible interaction between dark energy and dark matter, we investigate observational constraints on a phenomenological scenario, in which the ratio between the dark energy and matter densities is proportional to the power law case of the scale factor, $r\equiv (\rho_X/\rho_m)\propto a^{\xi}$. By using the Markov chain Monte Carlo method, we constrain the phenomenological interacting dark energy model with the newly revised $H(z)$ data, as well as the cosmic microwave background (CMB) observation from the 7-year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP7) results, the baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) observation from the spectroscopic Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) data release 7 (DR7) galaxy sample and the type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) from Union2 set. The best-fit values of the model parameters are $\Omega_{m0}=0.27_{-0.02}^{+0.02}(1\sigma)_{-0.03}^{+0.04}(2\sigma)$, $\xi=3.15_{-0.50}^{+0.48}(1\sigma)_{-0.71}^{+0.72}(2\sigma)$, and $w_X=-1.05_{-0.14}^{+0.15}(1\sigma)_{-0.21}^{+0.21}(2\sigma)$, which are more stringent than previous results. These results show that the standard $\Lambda$CDM model without any interaction remains a good fit to the recent observational data; however, the interaction that the energy transferring from dark matter to dark energy is slightly favored over the interaction from dark energy to dark matter. It is also shown that the $H(z)$ data can give more stringent constraints on the phenomenological interacting scenario when combined to CMB and BAO observations, and the confidence regions of $H(z)$+BAO+CMB, SNe+BAO+CMB, and $H(z)$+SNe+BAO+CMB combinations are consistent with each other.