Testing $\Lambda$CDM with eBOSS data using a model independent diagnostic

Abstract

The $Om3$ diagnostic (Shafieloo et al. 2012) tests the consistency of the cosmological constant as a candidate for dark energy using Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) data. An important feature of $Om3$ is that it is independent of any parametric assumption for dark energy, neither does it depend upon the dynamics of the Universe during the pre-recombination nor post-recombination eras. In other words, $Om3$ can be estimated using BAO observables and used either to confirm or falsify the cosmological constant independently of the value of the Hubble constant $H_0$ (expansion rate at $z=0$), and the comoving sound horizon at the baryon drag epoch, $r_d$ (which is a function of the physics of the Universe prior to recombination). Consequently, $Om3$ can play a key role in identifying the nature of dark energy (DE) regardless of the existing tensions in the standard model of cosmology and the possible presence of systematics in some of the data sets. We revisit $Om3$ using the most recent BAO observables from the eBOSS survey in order to test the consistency of the cosmological constant with this data. Our results show the consistency of dark energy being the cosmological constant. Moreover, with eBOSS data, we have achieved a precision of $1.5\%$ for this three-point diagnostic. This demonstrates that $Om3$ can be a potent diagnostic of dark energy when used in conjunction with the high precision data expected from forthcoming large scale structure surveys such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and Euclid.