Post-Planck Dark Energy Constraints

Abstract

We constrain plausible dark energy models, parametrized by multiple candidate equation of state, using the recently published Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) temperature anisotropy data from Planck together with the WMAP-9 low-$\ell$ polarization data and data from low redshift surveys. To circumvent the limitations of any particular equation of state towards describing all existing dark energy models, we work with three different equation of state covering a broader class of dark energy models and, hence, provide more robust and generic constraints on the dark energy properties. We show that a clear tension exists between dark energy constraints from CMB and non-CMB observations when one allows for dark energy models having both phantom and non-phantom behavior; while CMB is more favorable to phantom models, the low-z data prefers model with behavior close to a Cosmological Constant. Further, we reconstruct the equation of state of dark energy as a function of redshift using the results from combined CMB and non-CMB data and find that Cosmological Constant lies outside the 1$σ$ band for multiple dark energy models allowing phantom behavior. A considerable fine tuning is needed to keep models with strict non-phantom history inside 2$σ$ allowed range. This result might motivate one to construct phantom models of dark energy,which is achievable in the presence of higher derivative operators as in string theory. However, disallowing phantom behavior, based only on strong theoretical prior, leads to both CMB and non-CMB datasets agree on the nature of dark energy, with the mean equation of state being very close to the Cosmological Constant. Finally, to illustrate the impact of additional dark energy parameters on other cosmological parameters, we provide the cosmological parameter constraints for different dark energy models.