Dark Energy in the DESI Era: A Brief Review of Evidence, Beyond-$\Lambda$CDM Interpretations, and Tensions

Abstract

Recent baryon acoustic oscillation measurements from DESI provide important new clues for reassessing whether the standard $\Lambda$CDM model offers a sufficient description of the late-time expansion history of the Universe. When combined with cosmic microwave background and type Ia supernova data, these measurements show an apparent departure from the $\Lambda$CDM model, commonly described as dynamical dark energy (DDE) with equation of state crossing the phantom divide (i.e., quintom behavior). This review examines the current status of the DESI-motivated indications for DDE and their possible implications for physics beyond $\Lambda$CDM. We discuss how the strength of the preference for DDE depends on the adopted parametrization and dataset combination, and how residual systematics or internal tensions among datasets may affect its interpretation. At the background level, several mechanisms beyond $\Lambda$CDM can produce similar expansion histories. We therefore further discuss how the same effective departure from $w=-1$ may arise from physically distinct scenarios, including interacting dark energy, non-minimally coupled gravity, and non-standard dark matter. Meanwhile, these different new-physics interpretations may have different implications for current cosmological tensions, especially those involving $H_0$, $S_8$, and $\sum m_{\nu }$. In conclusion, the question posed by DESI is not merely whether dark energy evolves with time, but rather how, within the framework of precision cosmology, to disentangle new physics scenarios from systematic errors.

29 pages, 12 figures; Invited Review for RAA (Research in Astronomy and Astrophysics), prepared for the Special Forum: "Dark Energy and the Hubble Constant Crisis" at the 28th Annual Conference of the China Association for Science and Technology

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