A Consistency Test of the Cosmological Model at the Epoch of Recombination Using DESI Baryonic Acoustic Oscillation and Planck Measurements

May 30, 2024
6 pages
Published in:
  • Astrophys.J.Lett. 973 (2024) 1, L13
  • Published: Sep 16, 2024
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Abstract: (IOP)
The value of the Hubble constant determined from cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryonic acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements is directly dependent on the sound horizon at the photon–baryon decoupling. There has been significant interest in the possibility of new physics at the epoch around recombination that could reduce the sound horizon and increase the inferred value of H0_{0}, thus helping to relieve the Hubble tension. One way to determine if new physics is required would be to measure H0_{0} from BAO and CMB without assuming any model for computing the sound horizon. In this study, we use the recently released DESI Year 1 BAO data combined with the CMB acoustic scale and the Planck ΛCDM prior on Ωm_{m}h2^{2} to determine H0_{0} while treating the sound horizon at baryon decoupling rd_{d} as a free parameter. We find H0_{0} = 69.48 ± 0.94 km s1^{−1} Mpc1^{−1}, which is ∼2σ larger than H0_{0} = 67.44 ± 0.47 km s1^{−1} Mpc1^{−1} in the Planck best-fit ΛCDM where rd_{d} is derived using the standard recombination model. For comparison, we perform the same analysis using the pre-DESI BAO data with the CMB acoustic scale and the same prior on Ωm_{m}h2^{2}, finding H0_{0} = 68.05 ± 0.94 km s1^{−1} Mpc1^{−1}. This difference derives from the notably larger value of the product rd_{d}h measured by DESI. We compare results obtained with and without including the Pantheon Plus sample of uncalibrated supernovae magnitudes in our analysis. Future BAO data from DESI will help determine if the cosmological model at the epoch of recombination model requires a modification.
Note:
  • 6 pages, 2 figures, 1 table; added analysis with including the Pantheon+ SN sample, other minor changes in version 2; matches the version accepted to ApJLett