Probing Dark Energy with the Cosmic Microwave Background: Projected Constraints from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and Planck

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Abstract
We investigate the accuracy attainable by forthcoming space-based observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropy in constraining the dark energy density parameter Omega(Q) and equation of state w(Q) = p(Q)/rho(Q). Despite degeneracies among parameters, it is possible for high-precision observations such as those from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe and Planck to provide interesting information on the nature of the dark energy. Furthermore, we show that imposing a flat universe constraint makes it possible to obtain tight limits in the space of dark energy parameters even from the CMB alone