Dark Energy in Light of the Cosmic Horizon

Abstract

Based on dramatic observations of the CMB with WMAP and of Type Ia supernovae with the Hubble Space Telescope and ground-based facilities, it is now generally believed that the Universe's expansion is accelerating. Within the context of standard cosmology, the Universe must therefore contain a third `dark' component of energy, beyond matter and radiation. However, the current data are still deemed insufficient to distinguish between an evolving dark energy component and the simplest model of a time-independent cosmological constant. In this paper, we examine the role played by our cosmic horizon R0 in our interrogation of the data, and reach the rather firm conclusion that the existence of a cosmological constant is untenable. The observations are telling us that R0=c t0, where t0 is the perceived current age of the Universe, yet a cosmological constant would drive R0 towards ct (where t is the cosmic time) only once, and that would have to occur right now. In contrast, scaling solutions simultaneously eliminate several conundrums in the standard model, including the `coincidence' and `flatness' problems, and account very well for the fact that R0=c t0. We show here that for such dynamical dark energy models, either R0=ct for all time (thus eliminating the apparent coincidence altogether), or that what we believe to be the current age of the universe is actually the horizon time th=R0/c, which is always shorter than t0. Our best fit to the Type Ia supernova data indicates that t0 would then have to be ~16.9 billion years. Though surprising at first, an older universe such as this would actually eliminate several other long-standing problems in cosmology, including the (too) early appearance of supermassive black holes (at a redshift > 6) and the glaring deficit of dwarf halos in the local group.