A Self-Consistent Hubble Expansion in f(T) Gravity model: Confrontation with Recent Observations

Abstract

The accelerated expansion of the universe remains one of the most profound puzzles in modern cosmology, often attributed to dark energy within the framework of General Relativity. As an alternative, modified teleparallel gravity theories such as $f(T)$ gravity offer a purely geometric mechanism to explain cosmic acceleration. In this work, we construct a plane-symmetric anisotropic cosmological model in the framework of exponential $f(T)$ gravity, adopting the functional form $f(T) = T + u e^{-vT}$. A key novelty of this study is that the Hubble function $H(z)$ is derived self-consistently from the field equations rather than being prescribed phenomenologically. Furthermore, we provide the first comprehensive observational test of an anisotropic $f(T)$ model using a combination of DESI, gravitational-wave (GW) data, and complementary datasets including OHD, CMB, and Pantheon+SH0ES. Our best-fit analysis yields $70 \lesssim H_0 \lesssim 73~\mathrm{km\,s^{-1}\,Mpc^{-1}}$, $0.28 \lesssim Ω_m \lesssim 0.34$, and $-0.99 \lesssim ω\lesssim -0.69$, all consistent with current late-time cosmological observations. The model accurately reproduces the distance modulus of Type Ia supernovae and the luminosity-distance relation from gravitational-wave standard sirens. These results demonstrate that the proposed anisotropic exponential $f(T)$ model can account for the observed cosmic acceleration without invoking a dark-energy component, thereby offering a novel and observationally consistent framework for studying anisotropic extensions of gravity.

Figures (8)

• Figure 1: Hubble parameter measurements from OHD with best-fit cosmological model curve.
• Figure 2: Distance modulus from Pantheon+SH0ES supernova data compared with the best-fit model curve
• Figure 3: Posterior constraints on ($H_{0}, \Omega_{m}, \omega$ and $f$) from OHD, with 1D marginalized distributions and 2D contours at 68% and 95% confidence levels.
• Figure 4: Posterior constraints on ($H_{0}, \Omega_{m}, \omega$ and $f$) from OHD+BAO, with 1D marginalized distributions and 2D contours at 68% and 95% confidence levels.
• Figure 5: Posterior constraints on ($H_{0}, \Omega_{m}, \omega$ and $f$) from OHD+CMB, with 1D marginalized distributions and 2D contours at 68% and 95% confidence levels.