On the determination of the deceleration parameter from Supernovae data

Abstract

Supernovae searches have shown that a simple matter-dominated and decelerating universe should be ruled out. However a determination of the present deceleration parameter $q_0$ through a simple kinematical description is not exempt of possible drawbacks. We show that, with a time dependent equation of state for the dark energy, a bias is present for $q_0$ : models which are very far from the so-called Concordance Model can be accommodated by the data and a simple kinematical analysis can lead to wrong conclusions. We present a quantitative treatment of this bias and we present our conclusions when a possible dynamical dark energy is taken into account.