The Early Dark Sector, the Hubble Tension, and the Swampland

Abstract

We consider the interplay of the Early Dark Energy (EDE) model, the Swampland Distance Conjecture (SDC), and cosmological parameter tensions. EDE is a proposed resolution of the Hubble tension relying upon a near-Planckian scalar field excursion, while the SDC predicts an exponential sensitivity of masses of other fields to such an excursion, $m\propto e^{-c|\Delta \varphi |/M_{\mathrm{pl}}}$ with $c\sim \mathcal{O}(1)$. Meanwhile, EDE is in tension with large-scale structure (LSS) data, due to shifts in the standard $\Lambda$CDM parameters necessary to fit the cosmic microwave background (CMB). One might hope that a proper treatment of the model, e.g., accounting for the SDC, may ameliorate the tension with LSS. Motivated by these considerations, we introduce the Early Dark Sector (EDS) model, wherein the mass of dark matter is exponentially sensitive to super-Planckian field excursions of the EDE scalar. The EDS model exhibits new phenomenology in both the early and late universe, the latter due to an EDE-mediated dark matter self-interaction. This dark matter-philic "fifth force", while constrained to be small, remains active in the late universe and is not screened in virialized halos. We find that the new interaction with dark matter partially resolves the LSS tension. However, the marginalized posteriors are nonetheless consistent with $f_{\mathrm{EDE}}=0$ at 95$\%$ CL once the Dark Energy Survey Year 3 measurement of $S_8$ is included. We study constraints on the model from Atacama Cosmology Telescope data, and find a factor of two improvement on the error bar on the SDC parameter $c$, along with an increased preference for the EDE component. We discuss the implications of these constraints for the SDC, and find the tightest observational constraints to date on a swampland parameter, suggesting that an EDE description of cosmological data is in tension with the SDC.

v2: version published in Phys. Rev. D

References in corpus (29)

• Large Magellanic Cloud Cepheid Standards Provide a 1% Foundation for the Determination of the Hubble Constant and Stronger Evidence for Physics Beyond LambdaCDM
• The Clustering of the SDSS DR7 Main Galaxy Sample I: A 4 per cent Distance Measure at z=0.15
• On the Geometry of the String Landscape and the Swampland
• Dark Energy Survey Year 3 Results: Cosmological Constraints from Galaxy Clustering and Weak Lensing
• The Swampland: Introduction and Review
• Cosmic Distances Calibrated to 1% Precision with Gaia EDR3 Parallaxes and Hubble Space Telescope Photometry of 75 Milky Way Cepheids Confirm Tension with LambdaCDM
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR4 Maps and Cosmological Parameters
• TDCOSMO IV: Hierarchical time-delay cosmography -- joint inference of the Hubble constant and galaxy density profiles
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the Cosmic Microwave Background Power Spectra at 98 and 150 GHz
• To H0 or not to H0?
• Constraining Early Dark Energy with Large-Scale Structure
• Resolving the Hubble Tension with New Early Dark Energy
• Super-Planckian Spatial Field Variations and Quantum Gravity
• Why reducing the cosmic sound horizon alone can not fully resolve the Hubble tension
• A buyer's guide to the Hubble Constant
• COSMOPOWER: emulating cosmological power spectra for accelerated Bayesian inference from next-generation surveys
• Early dark energy is not excluded by current large-scale structure data
• The Hubble Tension in Light of the Full-Shape Analysis of Large-Scale Structure Data
• The primordial deuterium abundance of the most metal-poor damped Lyman-alpha system
• Dark energy from the string axiverse
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Constraints on Pre-Recombination Early Dark Energy
• On the Possibility of Large Axion Moduli Spaces
• Dark Energy at early times and ACT: a larger Hubble constant without late-time priors
• Dark Sector to Restore Cosmological Concordance
• Early-Universe-Physics Insensitive and Uncalibrated Cosmic Standards: Constraints on ${\Omega }_{\mathrm{m}}$ and Implications for the Hubble Tension
• Swampland Conjectures and Late-Time Cosmology
• Testing H0 in Acoustic Dark Energy Models with Planck and ACT Polarization
• Baryonic feedback biases on fundamental physics from lensed CMB power spectra
• Cosmic Axion Force

Cited by in corpus (31)

• Challenges for $\Lambda$CDM: An update
• Seven hints that early-time new physics alone is not sufficient to solve the Hubble tension
• The CosmoVerse White Paper: Addressing observational tensions in cosmology with systematics and fundamental physics
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: Constraints on Pre-Recombination Early Dark Energy
• Updated constraints from the effective field theory analysis of BOSS power spectrum on Early Dark Energy
• Coupled and uncoupled early dark energy, massive neutrinos and the cosmological tensions
• Observational constraints on early dark energy
• Cold New Early Dark Energy pulls the trigger on the $H_0$ and $S_8$ tensions: a simultaneous solution to both tensions without new ingredients
• A Dark Matter Trigger for Early Dark Energy Coincidence
• Early Dark Energy in Type IIB String Theory
• Using the cosmological recombination radiation to probe early dark energy and fundamental constant variations
• Phantom scalar-tensor models and cosmological tensions
• Cosmological constraints on early dark energy from the full shape analysis of eBOSS DR16
• Addressing the Hubble and $S_8$ Tensions with a Kinetically Mixed Dark Sector
• Improved constraint on primordial gravitational waves in light of the Hubble tension and BICEP/Keck
• Alleviating Cosmological Tensions with a Coupled Scalar Fields Model
• Cascading Dark Energy
• Constraints on Early Dark Energy from the Axion Weak Gravity Conjecture
• Towards alleviating the $H_0$ and $S_8$ tensions with Early Dark Energy - Dark Matter drag
• Completely Dark Matter from Rapid-Turn Multifield Inflation
• Kinetically Coupled Scalar Fields Model and Cosmological Tensions
• Does the fraction of dark matter diminish with early dark energy?
• Swampland Bounds on Dark Sectors
• Structure Formation in Various Dynamical Dark Energy Scenarios
• Coupled Dark Sector Models and Cosmological Tensions
• A new parametrization of Hubble function and Hubble tension
• Sound Horizon Independent Constraints on Early Dark Energy: The Role of Supernova Data
• $\Lambda$CDM and early dark energy in latent space: a data-driven parametrization of the CMB temperature power spectrum
• Hitchhiker's Guide to the Swampland: The Cosmologist's Handbook to the string-theoretical Swampland Programme
• Apparent $w<-1$ and a Lower $S_8$ from Dark Axion and Dark Baryons Interactions
• Theoretical and observational constraints on early dark energy in $F(R)$ gravity