High Redshift $Λ$CDM Cosmology: To Bin or not to Bin?

Abstract

We construct observational Hubble $H(z)$ and angular diameter distance $D_{A}(z)$ mock data with baseline Planck $Λ$CDM input values, before fitting the $Λ$CDM model to study evolution of probability density functions (PDFs) of best fit cosmological parameters $(H_0, Ω_m, Ω_k)$ across redshift bins. We find that PDF peaks only agree with the input parameters in low redshift ($z \lesssim 1$) bins for $H(z)$ and $D_{A}(z)$ constraints, and in all redshift bins when $H(z)$ and $D_{A}(z)$ constraints are combined. When input parameters are not recovered, we observe that PDFs exhibit non-Gaussian tails towards larger $Ω_m$ values and shifts to (less pronounced) peaks at smaller $Ω_m$ values. This flattening of the PDF is expected as $H(z)$ and $D_{A}(z)$ observations only constrain combinations of cosmological parameters at higher redshifts, so uniform PDFs are expected. Our analysis leaves us with a choice to bin high redshift data in the knowledge that we may be unlikely to recover Planck values, or conduct full sample analysis that biases $Λ$CDM inferences to the lower redshift Universe.