Constraining massive gravity with recent cosmological data

A covariant formulation of a theory with a massive graviton and no negative energy state has been recently proposed as an alternative to the usual general relativity framework. For a spatially flat homogenous and isotropic universe, the theory introduces modified Friedmann equations where the standard matter term is supplemented by four effective fluids mimicking dust, cosmological constant, quintessence and stiff matter, respectively. We test the viability of this massive gravity formulation by contrasting its theoretical prediction to the Hubble diagram as traced by type Ia supernovae and gamma ray bursts, the H(z) measurements from passively evolving galaxies, baryon acoustic oscillations from galaxy surveys and the distance priors from the cosmic microwave background radiation anisotropy spectrum. It turns out that the model is indeed able to very well fit this large data set thus offering a viable alternative to the usual dark energy framework. We finally set stringent constraints on its parameters also narrowing down the allowed range for the graviton mass. © 2012 American Physical Society.