Cosmological implications of baryon acoustic oscillation measurements

We derive constraints on cosmological parameters and tests of dark energy models from the combination of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements with cosmic microwave background (CMB) data and a recent reanalysis of Type Ia supernova (SN) data. In particular, we take advantage of high-precision BAO measurements from galaxy clustering and the Lyman-$\ensuremath{\alpha}$ forest (LyaF) in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS). Treating the BAO scale as an uncalibrated standard ruler, BAO data alone yield a high confidence detection of dark energy; in combination with the CMB angular acoustic scale they further imply a nearly flat universe. Adding the CMB-calibrated physical scale of…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: DE-AC02-98CH10886
• UD
  U.S. Department of Energy

  Awards: AC02-98CH10886, DE-AC02, DE-AC02-
• AP
  Alfred P. Sloan Foundation
• YU
  Yale University
• VU
  Vanderbilt University
• PU
  Princeton University
• OS
  Ohio State University
• HU
  Harvard University
• UO
  University of Washington
• JH
  Johns Hopkins University
• CM
  Carnegie Mellon University
• UO
  University of Portsmouth
• NM
  New Mexico State University
• YU
  York University
• OO
  Office of Science

  Awards: DE-AC02-98CH10886, DE-AC02
• CO
  College of Engineering, Michigan State University
• SA
  Science and Technology Facilities Council

  Awards: ST/J500665/1, ST/L005573/1, ST/K502248/1, ST/K00090X/1, ST/L00481X/1
• BN
  Brookhaven National Laboratory

  Awards: DE-AC02-98CH10886, AC02-98CH10886
• LB
  Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory