MODEL-INDEPENDENT DETERMINATION OF CURVATURE PARAMETER USING H(z) AND D-A (z) DATA PAIRS FROM BAO MEASUREMENTS

We present a model-independent determination of the curvature parameter Omega(k) using the Hubble parameter H(z) and the angular diameter distance D-A(z) from recent baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements. Each H(z) and D-A(z) pair from a BAO measurement can constrain a curvature parameter. The accuracy of the curvature measurement improves with increased redshift of H(z) and D-A(z) data. By using the H(z) and D-A(z) pair derived from a BAO Lyman a forest measurement at z = 2.36, the Omega(k) is confined to be -0.05 +/- 0.06, which is consistent with the curvature of -0.037(-0.042) (+0.044) constrained by the nine year Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe data only. Considering future BAOmeasurements, at least one order of magnitude improvement of this curvature measurement can be expected.