Exotic self-interactions among the Standard-Model neutrinos have been proposed as a potential reason behind the tension in the expansion rate, H0, of the universe inferred from different observations. We constrain this proposal using electroweak precision observables, rare meson decays, and neutrinoless double-\{beta} decay. In contrast to previous works, we emphasize the importance of carrying out this study in a framework with full Standard-Model gauge invariance. We implement this first by working with a relevant set of Standard- Model-Effective-Field-Theory operators and subsequently by considering a UV completion in the inverse See-Saw model. We find that the scenario in which all flavors of neutrinos self-interact universally is strongly constrained, disfavoring a potential solution to the H0 problem in this case. The scenario with self-interactions only among tau neutrinos is the least constrained and can potentially be consistent with a solution to the H0 problem.
Self-interaction among the neutrinos in the early Universe has been proposed as a solution to the Hubble tension, a discrepancy between the measured values of the Hubble constant from CMB and low-redshift data. However, flavor-universal neutrino self-interaction is highly constrained by Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and other laboratory experiments such as, tau and K-meson decay, double-neutrino beta decay etc. We study the cosmology when only one or two neutrino states are self-interacting. Such flavor-specific interactions are less constrained by the laboratory experiments. Lastly, we address the…
We present here a lightning review of the status of the Hubble-Lemaître tension. Instead of discussing the broad array of proposed solutions found in the literature, we focus here on the assumptions made to measure the Hubble constant from cosmic microwave background and baryon acoustic oscillation data on the one hand, and from a cepheid-calibrated distance ladder on the other hand. From this discussion, we extract two important lessons that inform which kind of physics-based solutions could plausibly resolve this tension.
It has very recently been claimed that the neutrino-assisted early dark energy model -- a promising resolution of the Hubble tension that can ameliorate the theoretical fine-tuning and coincidence problems that plague other theories -- does not provide natural or cosmologically interesting results. In this short paper, we show that these conclusions are incorrect for three reasons. First, we identify errors in the calculations. Second, we dispute the definition in of what constitutes an 'interesting' and 'natural' model. Finally, we demonstrate that the conclusions of were arrived at without f…
The value of Hubble constant inferred from Planck measurements of anisotropies in the cosmic microwave background is at $4.4σ$ tension with direct astronomical measurements at low redshifts. Very recently, it has been conjectured that this discrepancy may be reconciled if a small fraction of the dark matter is described by three mutually orthogonal vector fields of the same mass. We study the thermal description of this model and use the observationally-inferred primordial fractions of baryonic mass in $^4{\rm He}$ to constrain its phase space. We show that while the sterile vector fields may …
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 mismatch between the locally measured expansion rate of the universe and the one inferred from the cosmic microwave background measurements by Planck in the context of the standard $Λ$CDM, known as the Hubble tension, has become one of the most pressing problems in cosmology. A large number of amendments to the $Λ$CDM model have been proposed in order to solve this tension. Many of them introduce new physics, such as early dark energy, modifications of the standard model neutrino sector, extra radiation, primordial magnetic fields or varying fundamental constants, with the aim of reducing …
The recent measurements of the cosmological parameter $H_0$ from the direct local observations and the inferred value from the Cosmic Microwave Background show $\sim 4 σ$ discrepancy. This may indicate new physics beyond the standard $Λ$CDM. We investigate the keV gravitino dark matter that has a small fraction of non-thermal component (e.g. from the late decay of NLSP bino) under various cosmological constraints. We find such a scenario is highly predictive and can be tested by searching for the dilepton plus missing energy events at the LHC. Besides, we also discuss its implication for Hubbl…
Local measurements of the Hubble constant currently disagree with the high-precision value that is inferred from the CMB under the assumption of a $Λ$CDM cosmology. The significance of this tension clearly motivates studying extensions of the standard cosmological model capable of addressing this outstanding issue. Broadly speaking, models that have been successful in reducing the the tension between the CMB and local measurements (without introducing additional tension in other datasets) require an additional component of the energy density in the Universe at a time close to recombination. In…
New interactions of neutrinos can stop them from free streaming even after the weak interaction freeze-out. This results in a phase shift in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) acoustic peaks which can alleviate the Hubble tension. In addition, the perturbations in neutrinos do not decay away on horizon entry and contribute to metric perturbation enhancing the matter power spectrum. We demonstrate that this acoustic phase shift can be achieved using new interactions of standard left-handed neutrinos with dark matter without changing the number of effective relativistic degrees of freedom. Us…
We present a model in which the question about a nature of the dark energy and the recently raised Hubble tension can be addressed at once. We consider the electroweak axion in the minimal supersymmetric standard model where the axion energy density is identified with the observed dark energy. Along with this, imposing a gauged $Z_{10}$ symmetry makes it possible to have a gravitino dark matter whose mass amounts to $\sim\mathcal{O}(1)\,\,{\rm GeV}$. We find that the gravitino with mass $\sim\mathcal{O}(1)\,\,{\rm GeV}$ can be a good candidate of a decaying dark matter of which decay after rec…
We study the fit of cosmological models with two additional free parameters $N_\mathrm{eff}$ and $ξ_e$ in addition to the parameters of $Λ$CDM. We introduce extra radiation components such as hot axions or sterile neutrinos in addition to the energy density of neutrinos with large neutrino degeneracy. Then, a larger $N_\mathrm{eff}$ is allowed without spoiling Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), as positive neutrino degeneracy $ξ_e$ could improve BBN fit. By analysing the data from Planck, baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO), BBN and type-Ia supernovae (SNeIa), it can be seen that the Hubble tension…
We present a dark sector model addressing both the Hubble tension and the core-cusp problem. The model is based on a hidden Abelian gauge symmetry group with some chiral fermions required by the anomaly cancellation conditions, producing a candidate for the decaying fermion dark matter as a solution to the Hubble tension. Moreover, the sub-keV mass regime and the thermal history of the dark sector help the dark matter candidate resolve the core-cusp problem occurring in the standard $Λ$CDM cosmology.
We revisit D-term inflation with the bounds of the cosmic string tension from gravitational wave observations and consider the possible deviation of the spectral index compared with the $Λ$CDM model in light of prerecombination resolutions of the Hubble tension. D-term inflation requires very small coupling constants under these constraints. We show that natural coupling constants ($g=λ=0.1$) can be achieved in the case of D-term inflation on the brane.
If a fraction of the dark matter is unstable and decays into dark radiation at around the time of matter-radiation equality, it could impact the expansion history of the universe in a way that helps to ameliorate the long-standing tension between the locally measured value of the Hubble constant and the value inferred from measurements of the cosmic microwave background and baryon acoustic oscillations (assuming standard $Λ$CDM cosmology). If this component of decaying dark matter is cold, however, it will modify the evolution of the gravitational potentials, leading to inconsistencies with th…
The Hubble parameter inferred from cosmic microwave background observations is consistently lower than that from local measurements, which could hint towards new physics. Solutions to the Hubble tension typically require a sizable amount of extra radiation $ΔN^{}_{\rm eff}$ during recombination. However, the amount of $ΔN^{}_{\rm eff}$ in the early Universe is unavoidably constrained by Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), which causes problems for such solutions. We present a possibility to evade this problem by introducing neutrino self-interactions via a simple Majoron-like coupling. The scalar …
A new component added to the standard model of cosmology that behaves like a cosmological constant at early times and then dilutes away as radiation or faster can resolve the Hubble tension. We show that a rolling axion coupled to a non-Abelian gauge group exhibits the behavior of such an extra component at the background level and can present a natural particle-physics model solution to the Hubble tension. We compare the contribution of this bottom-up model to the phenomenological fluid approximation and determine that CMB observables sensitive only to the background evolution of the Universe…
The Wess Zumino Dark Radiation (WZDR) model first proposed in arXiv:2111.00014 shows great promise as a well-motivated simple explanation of the Hubble tension between local and CMB-based measurements. In this work we investigate the assumptions made in the original proposal and confront the model with additional independent data sets. We show that the original assumptions can have an impact on the overall results but are usually well motivated. We further demonstrate that the preference for negative $Ω_k$ remains at a similar level as for the $Λ$CDM model, while the $A_L$ tension is slightly …
Technische Universität München（慕尼黑工业大学）；Nordita, KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Stockholm University（诺迪塔，皇家理工学院和斯德哥尔摩大学）；University of Southern Denmark（南丹麦大学）
We show that the energy density of the superhorizon modes released in a non-Bunch-Davies vacuum can be arbitrarily large during inflation and it decreases like ln(a)/a^4 in the subsequent radiation dominated era. This may constitute a dark radiation component which can sufficiently alter the early cosmological evolution to alleviate the Hubble tension.
Minimal dark energy models, described by the same number of free parameters of the standard cosmological model with cold dark matter plus a cosmological constant to parameterize the dark energy component, constitute very appealing scenarios which may solve long-standing, pending tensions. On the one hand, they alleviate significantly the tension between cosmological observations and the presence of one sterile neutrino motivated by the short-baseline anomalies: we obtain a $95\%$ CL cosmological bound on the mass of a fully thermalized fourth sterile neutrino ($N_{\rm eff}=4$) equal to $m_s<0.…
In the recently suggested non-standard, quasi-molecular mechanism of recombination, the presence of neighboring proton increases the ionization energy and decreases the final recombination rate of hydrogen. Both these two effects can lead to the larger value of the present expansion rate of the universe obtained using CMB data and standard cosmological model, and thus are able to reduce or resolve the Hubble tension problem. We note also that due to the quasi-molecular channel the recombination began earlier, what potentially can solve the sigma-eight tension, since the CMB-predicted value of …
The recent analysis from the SH0ES Collaboration has confirmed the existence of a Hubble tension between measurements at high redshift ($z> 1000$) and at low redshift ($z<1$) at the $5σ$ level with the low redshift measurement giving a higher value. In this work we propose a particle physics model that can help alleviate the Hubble tension via an out-of-equilibrium hidden sector coupled to the visible sector. The particles that populate the dark sector consist of a dark fermion, which acts as dark matter, a dark photon, a massive scalar and a massless pseudo-scalar. Assuming no initial populat…
We consider the inverse Seesaw scenario for neutrino masses with the approximate Lepton number symmetry broken dynamically by a scalar with Lepton number two. We show that the Majoron associated to the spontaneous symmetry breaking can alleviate the Hubble tension through its contribution to $ΔN_\text{eff}$ and late decays to neutrinos. Among the additional fermionic states required for realizing the inverse Seesaw mechanism, sterile neutrinos at the keV-MeV scale can account for all the dark matter component of the Universe if produced via freeze-in from the decays of heavier degrees of freed…
For a standard $Λ$CDM universe with a power-law primordial power spectrum, the discrepancy between early- and late-universe measurements of the Hubble constant continued to grow and recently reached $5.3σ$. During inflation, local features in the inflationary potential often lead to band-limited features in the primordial power spectrum, hence breaking the power-law assumption in the derivation of the Hubble tension. We investigate whether such inflationary "glitches" can ease the Hubble tension. The recently released \emph{Planck} temperature and polarization data and the 2019 SH0ES+H0LiCOW j…
We present a simple extension of the Standard Model that leads to renormalizable long-range vector-mediated neutrino self-interactions. This model can resolve the Hubble tension by delaying the onset of neutrino free-streaming during recombination, without conflicting with other measurements. The extended gauge, scalar and neutrino sectors lead to observable signatures, including invisible Higgs and $Z$ decays, thereby relating the Hubble tension to precision measurements at the LHC and future colliders. The model has a new neutrinophilic gauge boson with $m_{Z'}\sim\mathcal{O}(10~\mathrm{eV})…
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 discrepancy between the Hubble parameter inferred from local measurements and that from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) has motivated careful scrutiny of the assumptions that enter both analyses. Here we point out that the location of the recombination peak in the CMB B-mode power spectrum is determined by the light horizon at the surface of last scatter and thus provides an alternative early-Universe standard ruler. It can thus be used as a cross-check for the standard ruler inferred from the acoustic peaks in the CMB temperature power spectrum and to test various explanations for t…
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…
The disagreement between direct late-time measurements of the Hubble constant from the SH0ES collaboration, and early-universe measurements based on the $Λ$CDM model from the Planck collaboration might, at least in principle, be explained by new physics in the early universe. Recently, the application of the Effective Field Theory of Large-Scale Structure to the full shape of the power spectrum of the SDSS/BOSS data has revealed a new, rather powerful, way to measure the Hubble constant and the other cosmological parameters from Large-Scale Structure surveys. In light of this, we analyze two m…
Large, non-standard neutrino self-interactions have been shown to resolve the $\sim 4σ$ tension in Hubble constant measurements and a milder tension in the amplitude of matter fluctuations. We demonstrate that interactions of the necessary size imply the existence of a force-carrier with a large neutrino coupling ($> 10^{-4}$) and mass in the keV -- 100 MeV range. This mediator is subject to stringent cosmological and laboratory bounds, and we find that nearly all realizations of such a particle are excluded by existing data unless it carries spin 0 and couples almost exclusively to $τ$-flavor…
An early dark energy component consisting of a cosmic pseudo Nambu-Goldstone boson has been recently proposed to resolve the Hubble tension -- the four-sigma discrepancy between precision measurements of the expansion rate of the universe. Here we point out that such an axion-like component may be expected to couple to electromagnetism by a Chern-Simons term, and will thereby induce an anisotropic cosmic birefringence signal in the polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We show that observations of the rotation-angle power spectrum and cross-correlation with CMB temperature ani…
Recently, a low-$z$ measurement of the Hubble constant, $H_0 = 73.04 \pm 1.04 {\rm ~km/s/Mpc}$, was reported by the SH0ES Team. The long-standing Hubble tension, i.e. the difference between the Hubble constant from the local measurements and that inferred from the cosmic microwave background data based on the $Λ$CDM model, was further strengthened. There are many cosmological models modifying the cosmology after and around the recombination era to alleviate this tension. In fact, some of the models alter the small-scale fluctuation amplitude relative to larger scales, and thus require a signif…
The discrepancy between early-Universe inferences and direct measurements of the Hubble constant, known as the Hubble tension, recently became a pressing subject in high precision cosmology. As a result, a large variety of theoretical models have been proposed to relieve this tension. In this work we analyze a conformally-coupled modified gravity (CCMG) model of an evolving gravitational constant due to the coupling of a scalar field to the Ricci scalar, which becomes active around matter-radiation equality, as required for solutions to the Hubble tension based on increasing the sound horizon …
We consider a low redshift $(z<0.7)$ cosmological dataset comprising megamasers, cosmic chronometers, type Ia SNe and BAO, which we bin according to their redshift. For each bin, we read the value of $H_0$ by fitting directly to the flat $Λ$CDM model. Doing so, we find that $H_0$ descends with redshift, allowing one to fit a line with a \textit{non-zero} slope of statistical significance $2.1 \, σ$. Our analysis rests on the use of cosmic chronometers to break a degeneracy in BAO data and it will be imperative to revisit this feature as data improves. Nevertheless, our results provide the firs…
Recent pulsar timing data reported by the NANOGrav collaboration may indicate the existence of a stochastic gravitational wave background around $f \sim 10^{-8}$ Hz. We explore a possibility to generate such low-frequency gravitational waves from a dark sector phase transition. Assuming that the dark sector is completely decoupled from the visible sector except via the gravitational interaction, we find that some amount of dark radiation should remain until present. The NANOGrav data implies that the amount of dark radiation is close to the current upper bound, which may help mitigate the so-c…
Taking advantage of Gaussian process (GP), we obtain an improved estimate of the Hubble constant, $H_0=70.41\pm1.58$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$, using Hubble parameter [$H(z)$] from cosmic chronometers (CCH) and expansion rate function [$E(z)$], extracted from type Ia supernovae, data. We also use CCH data, including the ones with full covariance matrix, and $E(z)$ data to obtain a determination of $H_0=72.34_{-1.92}^{+1.90}$ km s$^{-1}$ Mpc$^{-1}$, which implies that the involvement of full covariance matrix results in higher values and uncertainties of $H_0$. These results are higher than those …
In this paper, we explore possibilities of resolving the Hubble tension and $(g-2)_μ$ anomaly simultaneously in a U(1)$_{L_μ- L_τ}$ model with Majoron. We only focus on a case where the Majoron $ϕ$ does not exist at the beginning of the universe and is created by neutrino inverse decay $νν\to ϕ$ after electron-positron annihilation. In this case, contributions of the new gauge boson $Z'$ and Majoron $ϕ$ to the effective number of neutrino species $N_{\rm eff}$ can be calculated in separate periods. These contribution are labelled $N'_{\rm eff}$ for the U(1)$_{L_μ- L_τ}$ gauge boson and $ΔN_{\r…
In this paper we introduce a light Dirac particle $ψ$ as thermal dark matter candidate in a $U(1)_{L_μ-L_τ}$ model. Together with the new gauge boson $X$, we find a possible parameter space with $m_X \simeq 20$ MeV, $U(1)_{L_μ-L_τ}$ coupling $g_X \simeq 5 \cdot 10^{-4}$ and $m_ψ\gtrsim m_X/2$ where the $(g-2)_μ$ anomaly, dark matter, the Hubble tension, and (part of) the excess of $511$ keV photons from the region near the galactic center can be explained simultaneously. This model is safe from current experimental and astrophysical constraints, but can be probed by the next generation of neut…
The tension between early and late Universe probes of the Hubble constant has motivated various new FLRW cosmologies. Here, we reanalyse the Hubble tension with a recent age of the Universe constraint. This allows us to restrict attention to matter and a dark energy sector that we treat without assuming a specific model. Assuming analyticity of the Hubble parameter $H(z)$, and a generic low redshift modification to flat $Λ$CDM, we find that low redshift data ($z \lesssim 2.5$) and well-motivated priors only permit a dark energy sector close to the cosmological constant $Λ$. This restriction ru…
The recent tension between local and early measurements of the Hubble constant can be explained in a particle physics context. A mechanism is presented where this tension is alleviated due to the presence of a Majoron, arising from the spontaneous breaking of Lepton Number. The lightness of the active neutrinos is consistently explained. Moreover, this mechanism is shown to be embeddable in the Minimal (Lepton) Flavour Violating context, providing a correct description of fermion masses and mixings, and protecting the flavour sector from large deviations from the Standard Model predictions. A …
We present a kinetically mixed dark sector (KMIX) model to address the Hubble and $S_8$ tensions. Inspired from string theory, our model includes two fields: an axion, which plays a role similar to the scalar field in early dark energy models, and a dilaton. This theory differs from other axio-dilaton models aimed at the Hubble tension in that there is necessarily kinetic mixing between the two fields which allows for efficient energy transfer from the axion into the dilaton which has $w\approx1$. As a direct consequence of these dynamics, we find the model does not need to resort to a fine-tu…
