Power of observational hubble parameter data: A figure of merit exploration

Abstract

We use simulated Hubble parameter data in the redshift range 0 ≤ z ≤ 2 to explore the role and power of observational H(z) data in constraining cosmological parameters of the ΛCDM model. The error model of the simulated data is empirically constructed from available measurements and scales linearly as z increases. By comparing the median figures of merit calculated from simulated data sets with that of current Type Ia supernova (SNIa) data, we find that as many as 64 further independent measurements of H(z) are needed to match the parameter constraining power of SNIa. If the error of H(z) could be lowered to 3%, the same number of future measurements would be needed, but then the redshift coverage would only be required to reach z = 1. We also show that accurate measurements of the Hubble constant H 0 can be used as priors to increase the H(z) data's figure of merit. © 2011. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.