# The $H_0$ tension in light of vacuum dynamics in the Universe [CEA]

Despite the outstanding achievements of modern cosmology, the classical dispute on the precise value of $H_0$, which is the first ever parameter of modern cosmology and one of the prime parameters in the field, still goes on and on after over half a century of measurements. Recently the dispute came to the spotlight with renewed strength owing to the significant tension (at $>3\sigma$ c.l.) between the latest Planck determination obtained from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies and the local measurement from the Hubble Space Telescope, based on Cepheid variables. In this Letter, we investigate the impact of the dynamical vacuum models (DVMs) on such a controversy. These models have been recently explored in great detail by us, see e.g. arXiv:1602.02103 and arXiv:1703.08218, where it is shown that by letting the vacuum energy to support a mild dynamical dependence on the cosmic expansion it is possible to strongly ameliorate the quality fit to the overall $SNIa+BAO+H(z)+LSS+CMB$ cosmological observations, as compared to the concordance $\Lambda$CDM model. Here we show that the main DVMs can still surpass the $\Lambda$CDM fit even after including the local measurement of $H_0$, but our analysis definitely favors the CMB value. We find that even allowing a departure from the vacuum equation of state, the vacuum option $w=-1$ continues to be preferred. The kind of cosmic vacuum that is favored, however, is not the traditional cosmological constant but a mildly evolving one, $\rho_\Lambda(H(t))$, as indicated above. The large scale structure (LSS) formation data play a momentous role in discriminating among the two options.

J. Sola, A. Gomez-Valent and J. Perez
Fri, 19 May 17
46/62

Comments: 7 pages, 3 figures and 3 tables