Binned Hubble parameter measurements and the cosmological deceleration-acceleration transition

Abstract

Weighted mean and median statistics techniques are used to combine 23 independent lower redshift, $z<1.04$, Hubble parameter, $H(z)$, measurements and determine binned forms of $H(z)$. When these are combined with 5 higher redshift, $1.3\leqslant z \leqslant 2.3$, $H(z)$ measurements the resulting constraints on cosmological parameters, of three cosmological models, that follow from the weighted-mean binned data are almost identical to those derived from analyses using the 28 independent $H(z)$ measurements. This is consistent with what is expected if the lower redshift measurements errors are Gaussian. Plots of the binned weighted-mean $H(z)/(1+z)$ versus $z$ data are consistent with the presence of a cosmological deceleration-acceleration transition at redshift $z_{\rm da}=0.74 \pm 0.05$ \citep{farooq3}, which is expected in cosmological models with present-epoch energy budget dominated by dark energy as in the standard spatially-flat $Λ$CDM cosmological model.

22 pages, 4 Figures, 7 Tables