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Constraining cosmological and astrophysical parameters with the cosmic star formation history

Miguel Moyses1,* and Rafael C. Nunes1,2,†

  • *Contact author: miguel.moyses@ufrgs.br
  • †Contact author: rafadcnunes@gmail.com
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Phys. Rev. D 114, 083004 – Published 1 October, 2026

DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/5xyb-8yy7

Abstract

Identifying new observational probes to constrain cosmological parameters has become an important goal in modern cosmology. In this work, we explore the potential of the cosmic star formation rate density (SFRD), compiled over the redshift range z∈[0,15], as a complementary probe of fundamental parameters, including Ωm, H0, and the dark energy equation-of-state parameter, w. Within the ΛCDM framework, SFRD combined with big bang nucleosynthesis (BBN) data alone yields H0=65±11  km s−1  Mpc−1, reflecting significant degeneracies with astrophysical parameters. By jointly analyzing SFRD with recent BAO and Type Ia supernova (SNIa) data, these degeneracies are effectively broken, resulting in much tighter constraints; e.g., SFRD + BBN + DESI-DR2 gives H0=68.28±0.18  km s−1  Mpc−1. We perform a statistical reconstruction of the SFRD as a function of redshift, finding a peak at zpeak=2.600−0.087+0.114 within ΛCDM. We perform additional tests and find that the inferred value depends on the adopted SFRD parametrization. Our results demonstrate that combining SFRD with established cosmological probes not only improves constraints on cosmological parameters but also reduces uncertainties in astrophysical parameters governing star formation. We further extend the analysis to the wCDM model, highlighting the promise of SFRD as a robust complementary cosmological probe across different dark energy scenarios.

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Phys. Rev. D 114, 083004– Published 1 October, 2026
  • Received 22 January 2026
  • Accepted 8 September 2026
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