Determining the Equation of State of the Expanding Universe Using a New Independent Variable

To determine the equation of state of the universe, we propose to use a new independent variable $R\equiv (H_0/c)(d_L(z)/(1+z))$, where $H_0$ and $d_L(z)$ are the present Hubble parameter and the luminosity distance, respectively. For the flat universe suggested from the observation of the anisotropy of cosmic microwave background, the density and the pressure are expressed as $\rho/\rho_0=4(df/dR)^2/f^6$ and $p/\rho_0=-4/3(d^2f/dR^2)/f^5$ where $\rho_0$ is the present density and $f(R)=1/\sqrt{1+z(R)}$. In $(R, f)$ plane the sign as well as the strength of the pressure is in proportion to the curvature of the curve $f(R)$. We propose to adopt a Pade-like expression of $f(R)=1/\sqrt{u}$ with $u\equiv 1+\sum\limits_{n=1}^{N}u_nR^n$. For flat $\Lambda$ model the expansion up to N=7 has at most an error $< 0.2%$ for $z < 1.7$ and any value of $\Lambda$. We also propose a general method to determine the equation of state of the universe which has $N-1$ free parameters. If the number of parameters are smaller than $N-1$, there is a consistency check of the equation of state so that we may confirm or refute each model.
Comment: 12 pages, to be published in the Astrophysical Journal