Interpreting DESI's evidence for evolving dark energy

Abstract

The latest results on baryon acoustic oscillations from DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument), when combined with cosmic microwave background and supernova data, show indications of a deviation from a cosmological constant in favour of evolving dark energy. Use of a pivot scale for the equation of state $w$ shows that this evidence is concentrated in the derivative of $w$ rather than its mean offset from $-1$, indicating a new cosmic coincidence where the mean equation of state matches that of the $\Lambda$CDM model precisely in the region probed by the observations. An equivalent way to express this is to say that the dark energy hits the maximum value that it will ever achieve within the observed window. We argue that conclusions on dark energy evolution are strongly driven by the assumed parameter priors and that this coincidence, which we are naming the PhantomX coincidence (where X stands for crossing), may be a signature of this.

10 pages and 2 figures. v2: Additional interpretation of phantom crossing coincidence, removed comment on confidence ranges in DESI paper arXiv:2404.03002 due to typo corrections made in their v2, added discussion and references. v3: additional references

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