Non-parametric reconstruction of growth index via Gaussian processes

The accelerated cosmic expansion could be due to dark energy within general relativity (GR), or modified gravity. Differentiating between them using both the expansion history and growth history has attracted considerable attention. In the literature, the growth index γ has been found useful to distinguish these two scenarios. This work aims to consider the non-parametric reconstruction of the growth index γ as a function of redshift z from the latest observational data as of July 2018 via Gaussian processes. We found that f(R) theories and dark energy models within GR (especially ACDM) are inconsistent with the results in the moderate redshift range far beyond 3σ confidence level. A modified gravity scenario different from f(R) theories is favored. However, these results can also be due to other non-trivial possibilities in which dark energy models within GR (especially ACDM) and f(R) theories may still survive. In all cases, our results suggest that new physics is required.