Dark energy at early times, the Hubble parameter, and the string axiverse

作者：Karwal, Tanvi^*; Kamionkowski, Marc

来源：PHYSICAL REVIEW D, 2016, 94(10): 103523.

DOI：10.1103/PhysRevD.94.103523

Precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) power spectrum are in excellent agreement with the predictions of the standard Lambda CDM cosmological model. However, there is some tension between the value of the Hubble parameter H-0 inferred from the CMB and that inferred from observations of the Universe at lower redshifts, and the unusually small value of the dark-energy density is a puzzling ingredient of the model. In this paper, we explore a scenario with a new exotic energy density that behaves like a cosmological constant at early times and then decays quickly at some critical redshift z(c). An exotic energy density like this is motivated by some string-axiverse-inspired scenarios for dark energy. By increasing the expansion rate at early times, the very precisely determined angular scale of the sound horizon at decoupling can be preserved with a larger Hubble constant. We find, however, that the Planck temperature power spectrum tightly constrains the magnitude of the early dark-energy density and thus any shift in the Hubble constant obtained from the CMB. If the reionization optical depth is required to be smaller than the Planck 2016 2 sigma upper bound tau less than or similar to 0.0774, then early dark energy allows a Hubble-parameter shift of at most 1.6 km s(-1) Mpc(-1) (at z(c) similar or equal to 1585), too small to fully alleviate the Hubble-parameter tension. Only if tau is increased by more than 5 sigma can the CMB Hubble parameter be brought into agreement with that from local measurements. In the process, we derive strong constraints to

• 出版日期2016-11-28