Theoretician's analysis of the supernova data and the limitations in determining the nature of dark energy

Abstract

Current cosmological observations show a strong signature of the existence of a dark en-ergy component with negative pressure. The most obvious candidate for this dark energy is the cosmological constant (with the equation of state wX = p/ρ = −1), which, however,raises several theoretical ifficulties. This has led to models for dark energy componentwhich evolves with time. We discuss certain questions related to the determination of the nature of dark energy component from observations of high redshift supernova. The main results of our analysis are: (i) Even if the precise value of wX is known from observations, it is not possible to determine the nature of the unknown dark energy source using only kinematical and geometrical measurements.We have given explicit examples to show that different types of sources can give rise to a given wX. (ii) Although the full data set of supernova observa- tions (which are currently available) strongly rule out models without dark energy, the high (z > 0.25) and low (z < 0.25) redshift data sets, individually, admit decelerating models with zero dark energy. Any possible evolution in the absolute magnitude of the supernovae, if detected, might allow the decelerating models to be consistent with the data. (iii) We have in- troduced two parameters, which can be obtained entirely from theory, to study the sensitivity of the luminosity distance on wX. Using these two parameters, we have argued that although one can determine the present value of wX accurately from the data, one cannot constrain the evolution of wX.