A gigaparsec-scale local void and the Hubble tension

Abstract

We explore the possibility of using a gigaparsec-scale local void to reconcile the Hubble tension. Such a gigaparsec-scale void can be produced by multi-stream inflation where different parts of the observable universe follow different inflationary trajectories. These trajectories become different parts of the observable universe after inflation, when these scales return to the horizon. If these trajectories have different e-folding numbers, these parts of the universe have different energy densities, possibly creating a local large void. The impacts of such a void for cosmological observations are studied, especially those involving supernovae, Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) and the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel’dovich (kSZ) effect. We show that with the presence of the void, supernovae observations may be more consistent with the CMB. We also estimate the impacts of a local large void on BAO observations. In addition, we show that a local large void and hence its capabilities to ease the Hubble tension is limited by the kSZ effect. As a benchmark model, a 1.7 Gpc scale void with boundary width 0.7 Gpc and density contrast −0.14 may ease the Hubble tension, evading the kSZ limit.