Cosmic microwave background constraints on a decaying cosmological term related to the thermal evolution

Abstract

We constrain the thermal evolution of the universe with a decaying cosmological term by using the method of the analysis for the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) observation data. The cosmological term is assumed to be a function of the scale factor that increases toward the early universe, and the radiation energy density is lower compared to that in the model with the standard cosmological "constant" (LCDM). The decrease in the radiation density affects the thermal history of the universe; e.g. the photon decoupling occurs at higher-z compared to the case of the standard LCDM model. As a consequence, a decaying cosmological term affects the cosmic microwave background anisotropy. Thanks to the Markov-chain Monte Carlo method, we compare the angular power spectrum in the decaying LCDM model with the CMB data, and we get severe constraints on parameters of the model.