Constraining the Expansion History and Early Dark Energy with Line Intensity Mapping

Abstract

We consider the potential for line intensity mapping (IM) experiments to measure the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) from 3 < z < 6. This would constrain the expansion history in a redshift range that is currently unexplored. We calculate the map depths that future IM experiments targeting the CO(1-0) rotational transition line and [CII] ionized carbon fine-structure line would need to achieve in order to measure the BAO. We find that near-future IM experiments could constrain the BAO scale to 5% or better depending on CO/[CII] model amplitude. This measurement is at a precision that could make competitive constraints on models of early dark energy.

9 pages, 3 figures. Updated to reflect published version