On the uniqueness of ΛCDM-like evolution for homogeneous and isotropic cosmology in General Relativity

Abstract

We address the question of the uniqueness of spatially flat ΛCDM-like evolution for FLRW cosmologies in General Relativity, i.e. whether any model other than the spatially flat ΛCDM can give rise to the same type of scale factor evolution. Firstly, we elaborate on what we exactly imply by a ΛCDM-like evolution or kinematic/cosmographic degeneracy with the ΛCDM model, using the lessons from the statefinder diagnostic. Then, we consider two models with interaction in the dark sector: coupled fluid-fluid model and coupled quintessence model. We enforce the kinematic degeneracy with the spatially flat ΛCDM model via the cosmographic condition j=1 (j being the jerk parameter), which in turn fixes the function of the interaction term that is a priori unspecified. We argue that in General Relativity this cosmographic condition is consistent only with spatial flatness. Employing a dynamical system approach, we show that the spatially flat coupled fluid-fluid interacting models kinematically degenerate with ΛCDM must necessarily be based on a phantom fluid, whereas the set of physically viable spatially flat coupled quintessence models with power law or exponential potential kinematically degenerate to ΛCDM is of measure zero. Our analysis establishes that coupled fluid-fluid models with non-phantom fluids or coupled quintessence models with power law and exponential potential can never reproduce a cosmological evolution similar to that of the ΛCDM. The astrophysical consequences of our findings are qualitatively discussed in light of observational cosmological tensions.