The role of CMB spectral distortions in the Hubble tension: A proof of principle

Abstract

Although both early and late-time modifications of the ΛCDM model have been proposed to address the Hubble tension, compelling arguments suggest that for a solution to be successful it needs to modify the expansion history of the universe prior to recombination. This greatly increases the importance of precise CMB observations, and in this letter we make the argument for CMB spectral distortions, highlighting their potential role in constraining models that introduce significant shifts in the standard ΛCDM parameters, such as the scalar spectral index, in attempt to solve the Hubble tension.