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arXiv · 2504.03829

Dark Energy Constraints and Joint Cosmological Inference from Mutually Inconsistent Observations

Charles L. Steinhardt·Preston Phillips·Radoslaw Wojtak
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Abstract

Recent results regarding dark energy are mutually inconsistent under the $\Lambda$CDM cosmological model, hinting at the possibility of undiscovered physics. However, the currently accepted cosmological parameters come from a joint inference between observational data sets, a process that is formally invalid for inconsistent observations. We will show that many problems can arise when using joint inference on disagreeing observations such as significantly overestimated margins of error, high dependencies on priors, and sensitivities to boundary constraints. Because we do not know if these inconsistencies arise due to errors in observation, poor statistical techniques, or an improper model, it is difficult to fix these problems. We will discuss each scenario in which the analysis method breaks and explore an alternative resampling technique, developing methods that may make determining the sources of tensions in cosmological parameters easier.

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Charles L. Steinhardt, Preston Phillips, Radoslaw Wojtak. 2025-04-04. Dark Energy Constraints and Joint Cosmological Inference from Mutually Inconsistent Observations. https://arxiv.org/abs/2504.03829

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