Reconstructing the Cosmic Equation of State from Supernova Distances
Abstract
Observations of high-redshift supernovae indicate that the Universe is accelerating. Here we present a model-independent method for estimating the form of the potential V\(φ\) of the scalar field driving this acceleration, and the associated equation of state wφ. Our method is based on a versatile analytical form for the luminosity distance DL, optimized to fit observed distances to distant supernovae and differentiated to yield V\(φ\) and wφ. Our results favor wφ~=-1 at the present epoch, steadily increasing with redshift. A cosmological constant is consistent with our results.
- Publication:
-
Physical Review Letters
- Pub Date:
- August 2000
- DOI:
- 10.1103/PhysRevLett.85.1162
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/9910231
- Bibcode:
- 2000PhRvL..85.1162S
- Keywords:
-
- Astrophysics;
- General Relativity and Quantum Cosmology;
- High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
- E-Print:
- 4 pages, 5 figures, uses RevTex. Minor typo's in equations (1) and (10) corrected