Probing the curvature and dark energy

Abstract

Two new one-parameter tracking behavior dark energy representations $\omega=\omega_0/(1+z)$ and $\omega=\omega_0 e^{z/(1+z)}/(1+z)$ are used to probe the geometry of the Universe and the property of dark energy. The combined type Ia supernova (SN Ia), Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) data indicate that the Universe is almost spatially flat and that dark energy contributes about 72% of the matter content of the present universe. The observational data also tell us that $\omega(0)\sim -1$. It is argued that the current observational data can hardly distinguish different dark energy models to the zeroth order. The transition redshift when the expansion of the Universe changed from deceleration phase to acceleration phase is around $z_{\rm T}\sim 0.6$ by using our one-parameter dark energy models.