Bayesian and frequentist perspectives agree on dynamical dark energy

Baryon acoustic oscillation data from the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) show evidence of a deviation from a cosmological constant Λ within a Bayesian analysis. In this work, we validate that frequentist constraints from profile likelihoods on the Chevallier-Polarski-Linder parameters w₀, wₐ are in excellent agreement with the Bayesian constraints when combining with Planck cosmic microwave background, Planck and Atacama Cosmology Telescope lensing, and either Pantheon+ or Dark Energy Survey Y5 supernova data. Further, we assess which datasets drive these constraints by considering the contributions to the χ² from the individual datasets. For profile likelihoods of the matter fraction Ωₘ, such an investigation shows internal inconsistencies when assuming Λ, which are resolved when assuming a w₀wₐ dark-energy model. We infer the equations of state $w(z)$ at the pivot redshifts, supporting previous interpretations that current data appears to be more sensitive to the derivative of $w(z)$ rather than a mean offset from Λ. Thus our frequentist analysis corroborates previous findings on dynamical DE.