Constraints on Interacting Dark Energy Models from the DESI Baryon Acoustic Oscillation and DES Supernovae Data

TL;DR

This study uses recent cosmological data to investigate potential interactions between dark energy and dark matter, finding some models suggest a significant interaction while others do not, thus informing the nature of dark energy.

Contribution

It provides the first comprehensive analysis of interacting dark energy models using combined DESI BAO, DES SN, and Planck CMB data, exploring four typical interaction forms.

Findings

IDE models with Q ∝ ρ_de support dark energy decay into dark matter.

IDE model with Q=βH_0ρ_de shows a 3σ deviation from ΛCDM.

Models with Q ∝ ρ_c depend on the proportionality coefficient Γ.

Abstract

The recent results from the first year baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data released by the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI), combined with cosmic microwave background (CMB) and type Ia supernova (SN) data, have shown a detection of significant deviation from a cosmological constant for dark energy. In this work, we utilize the latest DESI BAO data in combination with the SN data from the full five-year observations of the Dark Energy Survey and the CMB data from the Planck satellite to explore potential interactions between dark energy and dark matter. We consider four typical forms of the interaction term $Q$. Our findings suggest that interacting dark energy (IDE) models with $Q \propto \rho_{\rm de}$ support the presence of an interaction where dark energy decays into dark matter. Specifically, the deviation from $\Lambda$CDM for the IDE model with $Q=\beta H_0\rho_{\rm de}$ reaches the $3\sigma$ level. These models yield a lower value of Akaike information criterion than the $\Lambda$CDM model, indicating a preference for these IDE models based on the current observational data. For IDE models with $Q\propto\rho_{\rm c}$, the existence of interaction depends on the form of the proportionality coefficient $\Gamma$. The IDE model with $Q=\beta H\rho_{\rm c}$ yields $\beta=0.0003\pm 0.0011$, which essentially does not support the presence of the interaction. In general, whether the observational data support the existence of interaction is closely related to the model. Our analysis helps to elucidate which type of IDE model can better explain the current observational data.