Early dark energy at high redshifts: status and perspectives

Early dark energy models, for which the contribution to the dark energy density at high redshifts is not negligible, influence the growth of cosmic structures and could leave observable signatures that are different from the standard cosmological constant cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model. In this paper, we present updated constraints on early dark energy using geometrical and dynamical probes. From WMAP five-year data, baryon acoustic oscillations and type Ia supernovae luminosity distances, we obtain an upper limit of the dark energy density at the last scattering surface (lss), Ω EDE ( z lss ) < 2.3 × 10 −2 (95% C.L.). When we include higher redshift observational probes, such as measurements of the linear growth factors, Gamma-Ray Bursts (GRBs) and Lyman-α forest (Lyα), this limit improves significantly and becomes Ω EDE ( z lss ) < 1.4 × 10 −3 (95% C.L.). Furthermore, we find that future measurements, based on the Alcock-Paczyński test using the 21cm neutral hydrogen line, on GRBs and on the Lyα forest, could constrain the behavior of the dark energy component and distinguish at a high confidence level between early dark energy models and pure ΛCDM. In this case, the constraints on the amount of early dark energy at the last scattering surface improve by a factor ten, when compared to present constraints. We also discuss the impact on the parameter γ, the growth rate index, which describes the growth of structures in standard and in modified gravity models.