Evidence for evolving dark energy from DESI DR2 BAO and Pantheon$$^+$$, DES-Dovekie, and Union3

Abstract Evidences for evolving dark energy are shown using baryon acoustic oscillation measurements from the recent Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument Data Release 2, combined with different Type Ia supernova datasets (Pantheon $$^+$$ + , DES-Dovekie, and Union3) and the CMB compressed likelihood. We examine several dark energy parameterizations, including the Logarithmic, Exponential, CPL, BA, JBP, Thawing, Mirage, and GEDE models. Analyzing the DESI DR2 measurements alone, we find that evidence for evolving dark energy is primarily driven by the LRG1-2 tracers, as their inclusion yields a preferred value of $$w_0 > -1$$ w 0 > - 1 . However, as each tracer provides only limited observables, this preference can result in an underconstrained and potentially unstable inference. Further, we find that each dark energy model predicts values in the $$w_0 > -1$$ w 0 > - 1 , $$w_a < 0$$ w a < 0 quadrant, a region characterized by the Quintom-B type dark energy scenario. The logarithmic bayes factor shows that, among all models, the Mirage model shows the inconclusive-to-moderate evidence across all dataset combinations. Consistently, the statistical significance remains modest, with $$N\sigma \sim 1.1$$ N σ ∼ 1.1 -2.3, and no model showing a robust preference for dynamical dark energy using late-time datasets alone. The evolution of w ( z ) shows a phantom crossing around $$z \sim 0.5$$ z ∼ 0.5 in most dynamical dark energy models, and the evolution of $$f_{\textrm{DE}}(z)$$ f DE ( z ) converges to $$f_{\textrm{DE}}(0) = 1$$ f DE ( 0 ) = 1 in all dark energy models.