Constraining dark energy via baryon acoustic oscillations in the (an)isotropic light-cone power spectrum

Context. The measurement of the scale of the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in galaxy power spectrum as a function of redshift is a promising method to the equation-of-state parameter of the dark energy w. Aims. To measure the scale of the BAO precisely, a substantial volume of space must be surveyed. We test whether light-cone effects are important and the scaling relations used to compensate for an incorrect reference are in this case sufficiently accurate. We investigate the in the cosmological parameters and the benefits of the two-dimensional anisotropic power spectrum. Finally, we estimate uncertainty with which w can be measured by surveys at redshifts of about $z=3$ and $z=1$, respectively. Methods. Our data is generated by cosmological N-body simulations of the standard ΛCDM scenario. We construct galaxy catalogs by “observing” the of different numbers of mock galaxies on a light cone at redshifts about $z = 3$ and $z = 1$. From the “observed” redshifts, we calculate the, assuming a reference cosmology that depends on wref. We do this for \ ref = -0.8, -1.0, and -1.2 holding the other cosmological parameters . By fitting the corresponding (an)isotropic power spectra, we determine apparent scale of the BAO and the corresponding w. Results. In the simulated survey we find that light-cone effects are small and the simple scaling relations used to correct for the cosmological work fairly well even for large survey volumes. analysis of the two-dimensional anisotropic power spectra enables an determination to be made of the apparent scale of the BAO, perpendicular and to the line of sight. This is essential for two-parameter w-models, such the redshift-dependent dark energy model w = w₀+(1-a) wₐ. Planck priors for the matter and baryon density and \Δ H₀ = 5% for the Hubble constant, estimate that the BAO measurements of future surveys $z = 3$ and $z = 1$ will be able to constrain, independently of other probes, a constant w to ~12% and ~11% (68% c.l.), respectively.