Probing the dynamics of dark energy with divergence-free parametrizations: A global fit study

TL;DR

This study compares divergence-free dark energy parametrizations using observational data to understand dark energy's evolution, finding a quintom model slightly favored but not excluding the cosmological constant.

Contribution

It introduces and tests two divergence-free parametrizations of dark energy's equation of state across the entire cosmic history using comprehensive observational data.

Findings

Best-fit model is a quintom with EOS crossing -1

Quintom model slightly favored over others

Cosmological constant remains a viable option

Abstract

The CPL parametrization is very important for investigating the property of dark energy with observational data. However, the CPL parametrization only respects the past evolution of dark energy but does not care about the future evolution of dark energy, since $w(z)$ diverges in the distant future. In a recent paper [J.Z. Ma and X. Zhang, Phys.\ Lett.\ B {\bf 699}, 233 (2011)], a robust, novel parametrization for dark energy, $w(z)=w_0+w_1({\ln (2+z)\over 1+z}-\ln2)$, has been proposed, successfully avoiding the future divergence problem in the CPL parametrization. On the other hand, an oscillating parametrization (motivated by an oscillating quintom model) can also avoid the future divergence problem. In this Letter, we use the two divergence-free parametrizations to probe the dynamics of dark energy in the whole evolutionary history. In light of the data from 7-year WMAP temperature and polarization power spectra, matter power spectrum of SDSS DR7, and SN Ia Union2 sample, we perform a full Markov Chain Monte Carlo exploration for the two dynamical dark energy models. We find that the best-fit dark energy model is a quintom model with the EOS across -1 during the evolution. However, though the quintom model is more favored, we find that the cosmological constant still cannot be excluded.