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    Measuring cosmic curvature with non-CMB observations

    Peng-Ju Wu1,* and Xin Zhang2,3,4,†

    • *Contact author: wupengju@nxu.edu.cn
    • †Contact author: zhangxin@mail.neu.edu.cn

    Phys. Rev. D 112, 063514 – Published 10 September, 2025

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/sn3q-q589

    Abstract

    The cosmic curvature ΩK is an important parameter related to the inflationary cosmology and the ultimate fate of the universe. In this work, we adopt the noncosmic microwave background (CMB) observations to constrain ΩK in the Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model and its extensions. The DESI baryon acoustic oscillation, DES type Ia supernova, cosmic chronometer, and strong gravitational lensing time delay data are considered. We find that the data combination favors an open universe in ΛCDM, specifically ΩK=0.106±0.056 at the 1σ level, which is in 2.6σ tension with the Planck CMB result supporting our Universe being closed. In the ΛCDM extensions, the data combination is consistent with a flat universe. It is noteworthy that when the cosmic chronometer data is excluded, the derived constraints demonstrate increased statistical preference for an open universe. Specifically, ΩK=0.146±0.060 in ΛCDM, which is in 3.1σ tension with the CMB result, and the flat universe scenario can be ruled out at >1σ level in the ΛCDM extensions. The constraining power mainly stems from DESI’s distance measurements. Given the advantages of the full-shape power spectrum in ΩK measurements and the support for a closed universe from previous full-shape analyses, it is necessary to validate our findings with DESI’s full-shape data. We adopt the Akaike information criterion to compare different cosmological models. The result shows that nonflat models fit the observational data better than the flat ΛCDM model, which indicates that flat ΛCDM may not be the ultimate model of cosmology.

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