Is cosmological data suggesting a nonminimal coupling between matter and gravity?

Abstract

Theoretical predictions from a modified theory of gravity with a nonminimal coupling between matter and curvature are compared to data from recent cosmological surveys. We use type Ia supernovae data from the Pantheon+ sample and the recent 5-year Dark Energy Survey (DES) data release along with baryon acoustic oscillation measurements from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (eBOSS) to constrain the modified model's parameters and to compare its fit quality to the Flat-$\Lambda$CDM model. We find moderate to strong evidence for a preference of the nonminimally coupled theory over the current standard model for all dataset combinations. Although the modified model is shown to be capable of matching early-time observations from the cosmic microwave background and late-time supernovae data, we find that there is still some incoherence with respect to the conclusions drawn from baryon acoustic oscillation observations.

11 pages, 2 figures, 2 tables, Matches published version in Physics of the Dark Universe

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• Cosmological model with Gong-Zong Parametrization in $f(R,L_m)$ gravity
• Modified Gravity with Nonminimal Curvature-Matter Couplings: A Framework for Gravitationally Induced Particle Creation
• Probing dynamical embeddings in a five-dimensional spacetime in light of DESI BAO
• Implications of $f(R)$ gravity on late-time cosmic structure growth through a complete description of density perturbations
• Density perturbations in nonminimally coupled gravity: symptoms of Lagrangian density ambiguity
• Beyond general relativity: gravitational waves in non-minimally coupled theories
• A Modified Gravitational Theory of the Matter Sector of the Type $\varphi (R,T){\mathcal{L}}_m$
• Cosmological and lunar laser ranging constraints on evolving dark energy in a nonminimally coupled curvature-matter gravity model