Model independent inference of the expansion history and implications
  for the growth of structure
  We model the expansion history of the Universe as a Gaussian Process and find
constraints on the dark energy density and its low-redshift evolution using
distances inferred from the Luminous Red Galaxy (LRG) and Lyman-alpha
(Ly$\alpha$) datasets of the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, supernova
data from the Joint Light-curve Analysis (JLA) sample, Cosmic Microwave
Background (CMB) data from the Planck satellite, and local measurement of the
Hubble parameter from the Hubble Space Telescope ($\mathsf H0$). Our analysis
shows that the CMB, LRG, Ly$\alpha$, and JLA data are consistent with each
other and with a $\Lambda$CDM cosmology, but the ${\mathsf H0}$ data is
inconsistent at moderate significance. Including the presence of dark radiation
does not alleviate the ${\mathsf H0}$ tension in our analysis. While some of
these results have been noted previously, the strength here lies in that we do
not assume a particular cosmological model. We calculate the growth of the
gravitational potential in General Relativity corresponding to these general
expansion histories and show that they are well-approximated by $\Omega_{\rm
m}^{0.55}$ given the current precision. We assess the prospects for upcoming
surveys to measure deviations from $\Lambda$CDM using this model-independent
approach.
