To H0 or not to H0?

This paper investigates whether changes to late-time physics can resolve the 'Hubble tension'. It is argued that many of the claims in the literature favouring such solutions are caused by a misunderstanding of how distance ladder measurements actually work and, in particular, by the inappropriate use of a distance ladder H-0 prior. A dynamics-free inverse distance ladder shows that changes to late-time physics are strongly constrained observationally and cannot resolve the discrepancy between the SH0ES data and the base Lambda CDM cosmology inferred from Planck. We propose a statistically rigorous scheme to replace the use of H-0 priors.

Automated summary

This paper investigates whether changes to late-time physics can resolve the 'Hubble tension', arguing that claims in favor of such solutions are often based on misunderstandings of distance ladder measurements. An observationally constrained inverse distance ladder was used to show that changes to late-time physics cannot resolve the discrepancy between SH0ES data and the base ΛCDM cosmology, proposing a statistically rigorous scheme to replace the use of H-0 priors.