Quick search Find article
Quick search
Find article

Measuring the Cosmic Equation of State with Counts of Galaxies

FREE

Jeffrey A. Newman1 and Marc Davis1,2

Show affiliations


The classical dN/dz test allows one to determine fundamental cosmological parameters from the evolution of the cosmic volume element. This test is applied by measuring the redshift distribution of a tracer whose evolution in number density is known. In the past, ordinary galaxies have been used for this; however, in the absence of a complete theory of galaxy formation, that method is fraught with difficulties. In this Letter, we propose studying instead the evolution of the apparent numbers of dark matter halos as a function of their circular velocity, observable via the line widths or rotation speeds of visible galaxies. Upcoming redshift surveys will allow the line width distribution of galaxies to be determined at both z ~ 1 and the present day. In the course of studying this test, we have devised a rapid, improved semianalytic method for calculating the circular velocity distribution of dark halos based on the analytic mass function of Sheth, Mo, & Tormen and the formation time distribution of Lacey & Cole. We find that if selection effects are well controlled and minimal external constraints are applied, the planned DEEP Redshift Survey could allow us to measure the cosmic equation-of-state parameter w to ±10% (as little as 3% if Ωm has been well determined from other observations). This type of test also has the potential to provide a constraint on any evolution of w, such as that predicted by "tracker" models.


Subject headings

cosmology: miscellaneous; cosmology: observations; cosmology: theory; dark matter; galaxies: fundamental parameters


Dates

Issue 1 (2000 May 1)

Received 1999 December 17, accepted for publication 2000 March 14

Published 2000 April 27



  1. Measuring the Cosmic Equation of State with Counts of Galaxies

    Jeffrey A. Newman and Marc Davis 2000 ApJ 534 L11

  2. Measurements of Ω and Λ from 42 High-Redshift Supernovae

    S. Perlmutter et al. 1999 ApJ 517 565

  3. Velocity Dispersion of the Gravitational Lens 0957+561

    John L. Tonry and Marijn Franx 1999 ApJ 515 512

  4. A Universal Density Profile from Hierarchical Clustering

    Julio F. Navarro et al. 1997 ApJ 490 493

  5. Curvature of the Universe and Observed Gravitational Lens Image Separations versus Redshift

    Myeong-Gu Park and J. Richard Gott III 1997 ApJ 489 476

  6. Median Statistics, H0, and the Accelerating Universe

    J. Richard Gott III et al. 2001 ApJ 549 1

  7. Karhunen-Loève Eigenvalue Problems in Cosmology: How Should We Tackle Large Data Sets?

    Max Tegmark et al. 1997 ApJ 480 22

  8. Cosmic Concordance and Quintessence

    Limin Wang et al. 2000 ApJ 530 17

  9. Determining the Equation of State of the Expanding Universe Using a New Independent Variable

    Takashi Nakamura and Takeshi Chiba 2001 ApJ 550 1

  10. Solvation of positive ions in water: the dominant role of water–water interaction

    Christian Krekeler and Luigi Delle Site 2007 J. Phys.: Condens. Matter 19 192101

View by subject




Export








Please login to access our web services, or create an account if you don't yet have one.

You must have cookies enabled in your web browser to be able to login.

Username
Password

Forgotten your password? Get a new one here.