English

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 ωb\omega_b. This puts these models in tension with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis (BBN), as measurements of primordial deuterium constrain ωb\omega_b at percent level. I show that existing analyses are in tension with the BBN determination of ωb\omega_b, and that including a likelihood component for primordial deuterium deters two representative models from recovering a high H0H_0, and leads to worse fits to CMB, BAO, supernova, and BBN data than Λ\LambdaCDM.

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}
}