Consistency check of {\Lambda}CDM phenomenology

The standard model of cosmology LCDM assumes general relativity, flat space, and the presence of a positive cosmological constant. We relax these assumptions allowing spatial curvature, time-dependent effective dark energy equation of state, as well as modifications of the Poisson equation for the lensing potential, and modifications of the growth of linear matter density perturbations in alternate combinations. Using six parameters characterizing these relations, we check LCDM for consistency utilizing cosmic microwave background anisotropies, cross correlations thereof with high-redshift galaxies through the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect, the Hubble constant, supernovae and baryon acoustic oscillation distances, as well as the relation between weak gravitational lensing and galaxy flows. In all scenarios, we find consistency of the concordance model at the 95% confidence level. However, we emphasize that constraining supplementary background parameters and parametrizations of the growth of large-scale structure separately may lead to a priori exclusion of viable departures from the concordance model.Comment: 15 pages, 14 figures, 4 tables; revision with minor change

Challenges to Self-Acceleration in Modified Gravity from Gravitational Waves and Large-Scale Structure

With the advent of gravitational-wave astronomy marked by the aLIGO GW150914 and GW151226 observations, a measurement of the cosmological speed of gravity will likely soon be realized. We show that a confirmation of equality to the speed of light as indicated by indirect Galactic observations will have important consequences for a very large class of alternative explanations of the late-time accelerated expansion of our Universe. It will break the dark degeneracy of self-accelerated Horndeski scalar-tensor theories in the large-scale structure that currently limits a rigorous discrimination between acceleration from modified gravity and from a cosmological constant or dark energy. Signatures of a self-acceleration must then manifest in the linear, unscreened cosmological structure. We describe the minimal modification required for self-acceleration with standard gravitational-wave speed and show that its maximum likelihood yields a 3-sigma poorer fit to cosmological observations compared to a cosmological constant. Hence, equality between the speeds challenges the concept of cosmic acceleration from a genuine scalar-tensor modification of gravity.Comment: 5 pages; v2 updated with newer data; v3 extended titl

Dark Energy vs. Modified Gravity

Understanding the reason for the observed accelerated expansion of the Universe represents one of the fundamental open questions in physics. In cosmology, a classification has emerged among physical models for the acceleration, distinguishing between Dark Energy and Modified Gravity. In this review, we give a brief overview of models in both categories as well as their phenomenology and characteristic observable signatures in cosmology. We also introduce a rigorous distinction between Dark Energy and Modified Gravity based on the strong and weak equivalence principles.Comment: 29 pages, 4 figures; invited review submitted to Annual Reviews of Nuclear and Particle Science; v2: some pertinent references added; v3: table with constraints added, reflects published version; v4 [trivial]: fixed missing references in arxiv versio