Early Dark Energy Can Resolve The Hubble Tension

Early dark energy (EDE) that behaves like a cosmological constant at early times (redshifts $z\gtrsim3000$) and then dilutes away like radiation or faster at later times can solve the Hubble tension. In these models, the sound horizon at decoupling is reduced resulting in a larger value of the Hubble parameter $H_0$ inferred from the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We consider two physical models for this EDE, one involving an oscillating scalar field and another a slowly-rolling field. We perform a detailed calculation of the evolution of perturbations in these models. A Markov Chain Monte Carlo search of the parameter space for the EDE parameters, in conjunction with the standard cosmological parameters, identifies regions in which $H_0$ inferred from {\it Planck} CMB data agrees with the SH0ES local measurement. In these cosmologies, current baryon acoustic oscillation and supernova data are described as successfully as in \LCDM, while the fit to {\it Planck} data is slightly improved. Future CMB and large-scale-structure surveys will further probe this scenario.