Is the CMB shift parameter connected with the growth of cosmological   perturbations?
  We verify numerically that in the context of general relativity (GR), flat models which have the same $\Omega_{\rm m}$ and CMB shift parameter $R$ but different $H(a)$ and $w(a)$ also have very similar (within less than 8%) growth of perturbations even though the dark energy density evolution is quite different. This provides a direct connection between geometrical and dynamical tests of dark energy and may be used as a cosmological test of general relativity. 
S. Basilakos (Academy of Athens), S. Nesseris (Un. of Ioannina) and L.   Perivolaropoulos (Un. of Ioannina)