Large-Scale Tests of the DGP Model

The self-accelerating braneworld model (DGP) can be tested from measurements of the expansion history of the universe and the formation of structure. Current constraints on the expansion history from supernova luminosity distances, the CMB, and the Hubble constant exclude the simplest flat DGP model at about 3sigma. The best-fit open DGP model is, however, only a marginally poorer fit to the data than flat LCDM. Its substantially different expansion history raises structure formation challenges for the model. A dark-energy model with the same expansion history would predict a highly significant discrepancy with the baryon oscillation measurement due the high Hubble constant required and a large enhancement of CMB anisotropies at the lowest multipoles due to the ISW effect. For the DGP model to satisfy these constraints new gravitational phenomena would have to appear at the non-linear and cross-over scales respectively. A prediction of the DGP expansion history in a region where the phenomenology is well understood is that high-redshift galaxies should be substantially correlated with the CMB through the ISW effect. This correlation should provide a sharp test of the DGP model in the future.