English

Can varying the gravitational constant alleviate the tensions ?

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2022-06-28 v2

Abstract

Constraints on the cosmological concordance model parameters from observables at different redshifts are usually obtained using the locally measured value of the gravitational constant GNG_N. Here we relax this assumption, by considering GG as a free parameter, either constant over the redshift range or dynamical but limited to differ from fiducial value only above a certain redshift. Using CMB data and distance measurements from galaxy clustering BAO feature, we constrain the cosmological parameters, along with GG, through a MCMC bayesian inference method. Furthermore, we investigate whether the tensions on the matter fluctuation σ8\sigma_8 and Hubble H0H_0 parameter could be alleviated by this new variable. We used different parameterisations spanning from a constant GG to a dynamical GG. In all the cases investigated in this work we found no mechanism that alleviates the tensions when both CMB and BAO data are used with ξg=G/GN\xi_{\mathrm{g}} = G / G_N constrained to 1.0±0.04\pm0.04 (resp. ±0.01\pm0.01) in the constant (resp. dynamical) case. Finally, we studied the cosmological consequences of allowing a running of the spectral index, since the later is sensitive to a change in GG. For the two parameterisations adopted, we found no significant changes to the previous conclusions.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2112.14173,
  title  = {Can varying the gravitational constant alleviate the tensions ?},
  author = {Ziad Sakr and Domenico Sapone},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2112.14173},
  year   = {2022}
}

Comments

Swiflty accepted and published in JCAP. Minor changes and references added in this version after proof reading. 18 pages, 9 figures