Astrophysical Tests of Kinematical Conformal Cosmology in Fourth-Order Conformal Weyl Gravity

TL;DR

This paper tests kinematical conformal cosmology, based on conformal Weyl gravity, against astrophysical data, confirming it can explain cosmic acceleration without dark energy and providing consistent Hubble constant estimates.

Contribution

It provides an updated analysis of KCC using supernova and Hubble data, demonstrating its viability as an alternative to standard cosmology.

Findings

KCC explains cosmic acceleration without dark energy.

Hubble constant estimated as 67.53 km/s Mpc, close to current estimates.

KCC fits H(z) data and avoids age problems.

Abstract

In this work we analyze kinematical conformal cosmology (KCC), an alternative cosmological model based on conformal Weyl gravity (CG), and test it against current type Ia supernova (SNIa) luminosity data and other astrophysical observations. Expanding upon previous work on the subject, we revise the analysis of SNIa data, confirming that KCC can explain the evidence for an accelerating expansion of the Universe without using dark energy or other exotic components. We obtain an independent evaluation of the Hubble constant, H_{0} = 67.53 km/s Mpc, very close to the current best estimates. The main KCC and CG parameters are re-evaluated and their revised values are found to be close to previous estimates. We also show that available data for the Hubble parameter as a function of redshift can be fitted using KCC and that this model does not suffer from any apparent age problem. Overall, KCC remains a viable alternative cosmological model, worthy of further investigation.