Revisiting the distance duality relation using a non-parametric regression method

Abstract: The interdependence of luminosity distance, $D_L$ and angular diameter distance, $D_A$ given by the distance duality relation (DDR) is very significant in observational cosmology. It is very closely tied with the temperature- redshift relation of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) radiation. Any deviation from $\eta(z)\equiv \frac{D_L}{D_A (1+z)^2} =1$ indicates a possible emergence of new physics. Our aim in this work is to check the consistency of these relations using a non-parametric regression method namely, LOESS with SIMEX. This technique avoids dependency on the cosmological model and works with a minimal set of assumptions. Further, to analyze the efficiency of the methodology, we simulate a dataset of $200$ points of $\eta (z)$ data based on a phenomenological model $\eta(z)= (1+z)^\epsilon$. The error on the simulated data points is obtained by using the temperature of CMB radiation at various redshifts. For testing the distance duality relation, we use the JLA SNe Ia data for luminosity distances, while the angular diameter distances are obtained from radio galaxies datasets. Since the DDR is linked with CMB temperature - redshift relation, therefore we also use the CMB temperature data to reconstruct $\eta (z)$. It is important to note that with CMB data, we are able to study the evolution of DDR up to a very high redshift $ z = 2.418$. In this analysis, we find no evidence of deviation from $\eta=1$ within a $1\sigma$ region in the entire redshift range used in this analysis ($0 < z \leq 2.418$).