Constraining quantum-gravity predictions for evolving dark energy
Abstract
We confront a class of dark-energy equations of state emerging from group field theory (GFT) quantum gravity with DESI Data Release 2 baryon acoustic oscillations and Pantheon+ type-Ia supernovae. We introduce sampling parametrisations that replace microscopic initial-condition parameters by combinations more directly measured by background probes. The GFT solutions separate into logarithmic, power-law and oscillatory branches, determined by the microscopic interaction parameter m. The logarithmic branch is constrained to lie extremely close to a cosmological constant, while the power-law branch permits a small phantom deviation. Without perturbative-theory priors, oscillatory solutions can reproduce the mild preference of the distance data for a dip in w(z) near z≃0.5--$1$. Profile-likelihood constraints favour m∼−2 and m∼−5 from BAO and supernovae, shifting towards m∼−3.5 when CMB information is included. Conservative perturbative priors strongly suppress these deviations from ΛCDM. The quantum-gravity scale zq, related to the average number of quantum gravity atoms, remains unconstrained, although its role in the time evolution makes higher-redshift observations a promising route to probing it. We further find that strong projection effects highlight the importance of performing likelihood profiling alongside our marginal posterior constraints. Our results provide a first direct test of GFT-motivated dynamical dark energy and demonstrate the potential for cosmological observations to inform quantum-gravity model building.
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BibTeX
@misc{tsedrik2026constraining,
title = {{Constraining quantum-gravity predictions for evolving dark energy}},
author = {M. Tsedrik and B. Bose and L. Marchetti and E. Ferreira},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = sep,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2609.15969},
eprint = {2609.15969},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.15969},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Constraining quantum-gravity predictions for evolving dark energy
AU - M. Tsedrik
AU - B. Bose
AU - L. Marchetti
AU - E. Ferreira
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/09/14
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2609.15969
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.15969
AB - We confront a class of dark-energy equations of state emerging from group field theory (GFT) quantum gravity with DESI Data Release 2 baryon acoustic oscillations and Pantheon+ type-Ia supernovae. We introduce sampling parametrisations that replace microscopic initial-condition parameters by combinations more directly measured by background probes. The GFT solutions separate into logarithmic, power-law and oscillatory branches, determined by the microscopic interaction parameter m. The logarithmic branch is constrained to lie extremely close to a cosmological constant, while the power-law branch permits a small phantom deviation. Without perturbative-theory priors, oscillatory solutions can reproduce the mild preference of the distance data for a dip in w(z) near z≃0.5--$1$. Profile-likelihood constraints favour m∼−2 and m∼−5 from BAO and supernovae, shifting towards m∼−3.5 when CMB information is included. Conservative perturbative priors strongly suppress these deviations from ΛCDM. The quantum-gravity scale z_q, related to the average number of quantum gravity atoms, remains unconstrained, although its role in the time evolution makes higher-redshift observations a promising route to probing it. We further find that strong projection effects highlight the importance of performing likelihood profiling alongside our marginal posterior constraints. Our results provide a first direct test of GFT-motivated dynamical dark energy and demonstrate the potential for cosmological observations to inform quantum-gravity model building.
ER -