Recombination-independent Determination of the Sound Horizon and the Hubble Constant from BAO

Abstract

Abstract The Hubble tension and attempts to resolve it by modifying the physics of (or at) recombination motivate finding ways to determine H 0 and the sound horizon at the epoch of baryon decoupling r d in ways that rely neither on a recombination model nor on late-time Hubble data. In this work, we investigate what one can learn from the current and future BAO data when treating r d and H 0 as independent free parameters. It is well known that baryon acoustic oscillations (BAOs) give exquisite constraints on the product r d H 0. We show here that imposing a moderate prior on Ωm h 2 breaks the degeneracy between r d and H 0. Using the latest BAO data, including the recently released the extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey Data Release 16, along with a Ωm h 2 prior based on the Planck best-fit Λ cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model, we find r d = 143.7 ± 2.7 Mpc and H 0 = 69.6 ± 1.8 km s−1 Mpc−1. BAO data prefers somewhat lower r d and higher H 0 than those inferred from Planck data in a ΛCDM model. We find similar values when combing BAO with the Pantheon supernovae, the Dark Energy Survey Year 1 galaxy weak lensing, Planck or SPTPol cosmic microwave background lensing, and the cosmic chronometer data. We perform a forecast for the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument (DESI) and find that, when aided with a moderate prior on Ωm h 2, DESI will measure r d and H 0 without assuming a recombination model with an accuracy surpassing the current best estimates from Planck.