Systematic error due to isotropic inhomogeneities

TL;DR

This paper investigates how large-scale isotropic inhomogeneities could bias the estimation of cosmological parameters, potentially leading to false indications of phenomena like phantom energy, challenging the assumption of the Copernican principle.

Contribution

It demonstrates the potential impact of unaccounted isotropic inhomogeneities on cosmological parameter determination and assesses the likelihood of misinterpretation of observational data.

Findings

Isotropic inhomogeneities can significantly bias cosmological parameter estimates.

Such inhomogeneities may cause us to incorrectly infer phantom energy.

The probability of misinterpretation depends on the scale and amplitude of inhomogeneities.

Abstract

Usually the effects of isotropic inhomogeneities are not seriously taken into account in the determination of the cosmological parameters because of Copernican principle whose statement is that we do not live in the privileged domain in the universe. But Copernican principle has not been observationally confirmed yet in sufficient accuracy, and there is the possibility that there are non-negligible large-scale isotropic inhomogeneities in our universe. In this paper, we study the effects of the isotropic inhomogeneities on the determination of the cosmological parameters and show the probability that non-Copernican isotropic inhomogeneities mislead us into believing, for example, the phantom energy of the equation of state, $p=w\rho$ with $w<-1$, even in case that $w=-1$ is the true value.