A generic $\omega_b$ tension in early-time solutions to the Hubble tension
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
2026-04-08 v1 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
Abstract
I show that early-time (pre-recombination) solutions to the Hubble tension are generically expected to increase the preferred baryon density . This puts these models in tension with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), as measurements of primordial deuterium constrain at percent level. I show that existing analyses are in tension with the BBN determination of , and that including a likelihood component for primordial deuterium deters two representative models from recovering a high , and leads to worse fits to CMB, BAO, supernova, and BBN data than CDM.
Keywords
Cite
@article{arxiv.2604.05095,
title = {A generic $\omega_b$ tension in early-time solutions to the Hubble tension},
author = {Cara Giovanetti},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.05095},
year = {2026}
}