Anti-de Sitter (AdS) vacua, being theoretically important, might have an unexpected impact on the observable universe. We find that in early dark energy (EDE) scenarios the existence of AdS vacua around recombination can effectively lift the CMB-inferred $H_0$ value. As an example, we study a phenomenological EDE model with an AdS phase starting at the redshift $z\sim2000$ and ending shortly after recombination (hereafter the universe will settle down in a $Λ>0$ phase until now), and obtain a best-fit $H_0=72.74$ km/s/Mpc without degrading the CMB fit compared with the standard $Λ$CDM model.
The inconsistent Hubble constant values derived from cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations and from local distance-ladder measurements may suggest new physics beyond the standard $Λ$CDM paradigm. It has been found in earlier works that, at least phenomenologically, non-standard recombination histories can reduce the $\gtrsim 4σ$ Hubble tension to $\sim 2σ$. Following this path, we vary physical and phenomenological parameters in RECFAST, the standard code to compute ionization history of the universe, to explore possible physics beyond standard recombination. We find that the CMB cons…
In the recently suggested non-standard, quasi-molecular mechanism of recombination, the presence of neighboring proton increases the ionization energy and decreases the final recombination rate of hydrogen. Both these two effects can lead to the larger value of the present expansion rate of the universe obtained using CMB data and standard cosmological model, and thus are able to reduce or resolve the Hubble tension problem. We note also that due to the quasi-molecular channel the recombination began earlier, what potentially can solve the sigma-eight tension, since the CMB-predicted value of …
We show that the $H_0$ tension can be resolved by making recombination earlier, keeping the fit to cosmic microwave background (CMB) data almost intact. We provide a suite of general necessary conditions to give a good fit to CMB data while realizing a high value of $H_0$ suggested by local measurements. As a concrete example for a successful scenario with early recombination, we demonstrate that a model with time-varying $m_e$ can indeed satisfy all the conditions. We further show that such a model can also be well fitted to low-$z$ distance measurements of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) a…
Combining pre- and post-recombination new physics to address cosmological tensions: case study with varying electron mass and sign-switching cosmological constant
Despite the success of the standard $Λ$CDM model of cosmology, recent data improvements have made tensions emerge between low- and high-redshift observables, most importantly in determinations of the Hubble constant $H_0$ and the (rescaled) clustering amplitude $S_8$. The high-redshift data, from the cosmic microwave background (CMB), crucially relies on recombination physics for its interpretation. Here we study how small-scale baryon inhomogeneities (i.e., clumping) can affect recombination and consider whether they can relieve both the $H_0$ and $S_8$ tensions. Such small-scale clumping, wh…
To further shed light on whether pre-recombination models can resolve the Hubble tension, we explore constraints on the cosmic background evolution that are insensitive to early-universe physics. The analysis of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy has been thought to highly rely on early-universe physics. However, we show that the fact that the sound horizon at recombination being close to that at the end of the drag epoch is insensitive to early-universe physics. This allows us to link the absolute sizes of the two horizons and treat them as free parameters. Jointly, the CMB peak…
The quasi-molecular mechanism of recombination, recently suggested by Kereselidze et al., is a non-standard process where an electron and two neighboring protons in the early universe directly form an ionized hydrogen molecule in a highly excited state, which then descends to lower levels or dissociates. It has been suggested that the increased binding energy due to the participation of a second proton may lead to an earlier cosmic recombination that alleviates the Hubble tension. Revisiting the quasi-molecular channel of recombination in more details, we find that the original work significan…
We study an expanding two-fluid model of non-relativistic dark matter and radiation which are allowed to interact during a certain time span and to establish an approximate thermal equilibrium. Such interaction which generates an effective bulk viscous pressure at background level is expected to be relevant for times around the transition from radiation to matter dominance. We quantify the magnitude of this pressure for dark matter particles masses within the range $1 {\rm eV} \lesssim m_χ \lesssim 10 {\rm eV}$ around the matter-radiation equality epoch (i.e., redshift $z_{\rm eq}\sim 3400$) a…
The primordial CMB at small angular scales is sensitive to the ionization and expansion history of the universe around the time of recombination. This dependence has been exploited to constrain the helium abundance and the effective number of relativistic species. Here we focus on allowed ionization fraction trajectories, $\Xe (z)$, by constraining low-order principal components of perturbations to the standard recombination scenario ($\Xe$-eigenmodes) in the circa 2011 SPT, ACT and WMAP7 data. Although the trajectories are statistically consistent with the standard recombination, we find that…
The $Λ$CDM cosmological model provides to first approximation a good description of the universe, but various tensions with data, most notably Hubble tension, persist. In this work we confront $Λ$CDM with the Pantheon Type Ia supernovae dataset and perform a two-parameter fit of the distance modulus for a running cut-off $z_{\textrm{max}}$. We observe that in a window between $z_{\textrm{max}} \approx 0.1$ and $z_{\textrm{max}} \approx 0.16$ there is a 1 - 2 $σ$ discrepancy with the Planck value $ω_m = 0.315 \pm 0.007$, which points to a potential matter underdensity. For high-energy theorists…
Exploring the interplay of late-time dynamical dark energy and new physics before recombination
Departament de Física Quàntica i Astrofísica (FQA) and Institut de Ciències del Cosmos (ICCUB), Universitat de Barcelona (UB)（巴塞罗那大学量子物理与天体物理学系和宇宙科学研究所）
The time delay measured between the images of gravitationally lensed quasars probes a combination of the angular diameter distance to the source-lens system and the mass density profile of the lens. Observational campaigns to measure such systems have reported a determination of the Hubble parameter H0 that shows significant tension with independent determination based on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and large scale structure (LSS). We show that lens mass models that exhibit a cored component, coexisting with a cusp, probe a degenerate direction in the lens model parameter space, bein…
Measurements of the Hubble parameter from the distance ladder are in tension with indirect measurements based on the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data and the inverse distance ladder measurements at 3-4 $σ$ level. We consider phenomenological modification to the timing and width of the recombination process and show that they can significantly affect this tension. This possibility is appealing, because such modification affects both the distance to the last scattering surface and the calibration of the baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) ruler. Moreover, because only a very small fraction …
We consider a cosmological model with dark matter in the form of $\sim10^{-12}M_\odot$ primordial black holes in dense weakly relativistic clusters with masses $18-560M_\odot$. It is shown that during the multiple collisions of the black holes the $\sim10$\% of the initial cluster mass can be transformed into gravitational waves in the time interval from recombination to the redshifts $z\geq 10$. At the recombination epoch, the density of matter was larger by $\sim10$\% and, accordingly, the universe expansion rate was higher. This leads to a shortening of the sound horizon scale, as is necess…
Varying fundamental constants (VFC) [e.g., the fine-structure constant, $α_{\rm EM}$] can arise in numerous extended cosmologies. Through their effect on the decoupling of baryons and photons during last scattering and reionisation, these models can be directly constrained using measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature and polarization anisotropies. Previous investigations focused mainly on time-independent changes to the values of fundamental constants. Here we generalize to time-dependent variations. Instead of directly studying various VFC parameterizations, we perf…
Although cosmic microwave background (CMB) is the most powerful cosmological probe of neutrino masses, it is in trouble with local direct measurements of $H_0$, which is called the $H_0$ tension. Since neutrino masses are correlated with $H_0$ in CMB, one can expect the cosmological bound on neutrino masses would be much affected by the $H_0$ tension. We investigate what impact this tension brings to cosmological bound on neutrino masses by assuming a model with modified recombination which has been shown to resolve the tension. We argue that constraints on neutrino masses become significantly…
Running into tension: primordial black holes from ultra-slow-roll inflation, spectral running, and the Hubble tension
University of Trento（特伦托大学）；Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications (TIFPA)-INFN（特伦托基础物理与应用研究所（TIFPA）-意大利国家核物理研究所）；New York University Abu Dhabi（纽约大学阿布扎比分校）
Decaying cold dark matter (CDM) has been considered as a mechanism to tackle the tensions in the Hubble expansion rate and the clustering of matter. However, polarization measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) severely constrain the fraction of dark matter decaying before recombination, and lensing of the CMB anisotropies by large-scale structure set strong constraints on dark matter decaying after recombination. Together, these constraints make an explanation of the Hubble tension in terms of decaying dark matter unlikely. In response to this situation, we investigate whether a…
The majoron, a neutrinophilic pseudo-Goldstone boson conventionally arising in the context of neutrino mass models, can damp neutrino free-streaming and inject additional energy density into neutrinos prior to recombination. The combination of these effects for an eV-scale mass majoron has been shown to ameliorate the outstanding $H_0$ tension, however only if one introduces additional dark radiation at the level of $ΔN_{\rm eff} \sim 0.5$. We show here that models of low-scale leptogenesis can naturally source this dark radiation by generating a primordial population of majorons from the deca…
Recently, it has been found that complete resolution of the Hubble tension might point to a scale-invariant Harrison-Zeldovich spectrum of primordial scalar perturbation, i.e. $n_s=1$ for $H_0\sim 73$km/s/Mpc. We show that for well-known slow-roll models, if inflation ends by a waterfall instability with respect to another field in the field space while inflaton is still at a deep slow-roll region, $n_s$ can be lifted to $n_s= 1$. A surprise of our result is that with pre-recombination early dark energy, chaotic $ϕ^2$ inflation, ruled out by Planck+BICEP/Keck in standard $Λ$CDM, can be revived…
We consider a quintessence field which transitions from a matter-like to a cosmological constant behavior between recombination and the present time. We aim at easing the tension in the measurement of the present Hubble rate, and we assess the $Λ$CDM model properly enlarged to include our quintessence field against cosmological observations. The model does not address the scope we proposed. This result allows us to exclude a class of quintessential models as a solution to the tension in the Hubble constant measurements.
In prerecombination resolutions of the Hubble tension, such as early dark energy, new physics before recombination shifts the values of relevant cosmological parameters so that the models can fit with cosmic microwave background and baryon acoustic oscillations observations as well as $Λ$CDM does. In this paper, we clarify how the parameter shifts are related with $δH_0$, particularly we find the shift of primordial scalar spectral index scales as ${δn_s}\simeq 0.4{δH_0\over H_0}$ by performing the Monte Carlo Markov chain analysis with the Planck2018+BAO+Pantheon+R19+Keck Array/BICEP dataset.…
We discuss the phenomenological imprints of modifications to gravity in the early universe with a specific focus on the time of recombination. We derive several interesting results regarding the effect that such modifications have on cosmological observables, especially on the driving and phasing of acoustic oscillations, observed in the CMB and BAO, as well as the weak gravitational lensing of the CMB and of galaxy shapes. This widens the pool of measurements that can be used to test gravity with present and future surveys, in particular realizing the full constraining power of the structure …
We propose a cosmological model, ü$Λ$CDM, based on {\it über-gravity}, which is a canonical ensemble average of many theories of gravity. In this model, we have a sharp transition from (a purely) $Λ$CDM era to a phase in which the Ricci scalar is a constant. This transition occurs when the Ricci scalar reaches a critical scale or alternatively at a transition redshift, $z_\oplus$. We use the observations of baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO) and Supernovae Ia (SNe), as well as the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data to constrain ü$Λ$CDM. This yields $H_0=70.6_{-1.3}^{+1.1}$ km/s/Mpc, $Ω_m…
We use an up to date compilation of Tully-Fisher data to search for transitions in the evolution of the Tully-Fisher relation. Using an up to date data compilation, we find hints at $\approx 3σ$ level for a transition at critical distances $D_c \simeq 9 Mpc$ and $D_c \simeq 17 Mpc$. We split the full sample in two subsamples according to the measured galaxy distance with respect to a splitting distance $D_c$ and identify the likelihood of the best fit slope and intercept of one sample with respect to the best fit corresponding values of the other sample. For $D_c \simeq 9 Mpc$ and $D_c \simeq …
We use the ages of old astrophysical objects (OAO) in the redshift range $0 \lesssim z \lesssim 8$ as stringent tests of the late-time cosmic expansion history. Since the age of the Universe at any redshift is inversely proportional to $H_0$, requiring that the Universe be older than the oldest objects it contains at any redshift, provides an upper limit on $H_0$. Using a combination of galaxies imaged from the CANDELS program and various high-$z$ quasars, we construct an age-redshift diagram of $\gtrsim 100$ OAO up to $z \sim 8$. Assuming the $Λ$CDM model at late times, we find the 95\% confi…
General Relativity (GR) is consistent with a wide range of experiments/observations from millimeter scales up to galactic scales and beyond. However, there are reasons to believe that GR may need to be modified because it includes singularities (it is an incomplete theory) and also it requires fine-tuning to explain the accelerating expansion of the universe through the cosmological constant. Thus, it is important to check various experiments and observations beyond the above range of scales for possible hints of deviations from the predictions of GR. If such hints are found it is important to…
We study dark energy through the viewpoints of parametric and nonparametric analyses of late-time cosmological data. We consider four Hubble parameter priors reflecting the Hubble tension and make use of two phenomenological functions, namely, a normalized dark energy density and a compactified dark energy equation of state. We predict the shape of both functions and present new constraints on the dark energy equation of state. The results hint at dark energy evolution regardless of the choice of the method and of the priors. The fact that similar evolutions for the dark energy densities are f…
Double the axions, half the tension: multi-field early dark energy eases the Hubble tension
University of Trento（特伦托大学）；Université de Montpellier（蒙彼利埃大学）；Trento Institute for Fundamental Physics and Applications (TIFPA)-INFN（特伦托基础物理与应用研究所（TIFPA）-意大利国家核物理研究所）
The existence of ultralight axion (ULA) with mass $\mathcal{O}( 10^{-26}\text{eV})$ is not favored by the CMB observations in the standard $Λ$CDM model. We show that the inclusion of early dark energy (EDE) will lift the CMB-lockdown on such ULA, and possibly other forms of dark matter beyond cold dark matter. By performing Monte Carlo Markov Chain analysis, it is found that, as opposed to $Λ$CDM, the AdS-EDE cosmology (with an Anti-de Sitter phase around recombination) now allows the existence of axion with mass $10^{-26}$ eV and predicts $6\%$ of the matter in our Universe to be such ULA, wh…
Although both early and late-time modifications of the $Λ$CDM model have been proposed to address the Hubble tension, compelling arguments suggest that for a solution to be successful it needs to modify the expansion history of the universe prior to recombination. This greatly increases the importance of precise CMB observations, and in this letter we make the argument for CMB spectral distortions, highlighting their potential role in constraining models that introduce significant shifts in the standard $Λ$CDM parameters, such as the scalar spectral index, in attempt to solve the Hubble tensio…
