A bias using the ages of the oldest astrophysical objects to address the Hubble tension

Abstract

Recently different cosmological measurements have shown a tension in the value of the Hubble constant, $H_0$. Assuming the $\Lambda$CDM model, the Planck satellite mission has inferred the Hubble constant from the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropies to be $H_0 = 67.4 \pm 0.5 \, \rm{km \, s^{-1} \, Mpc^{-1}}$. On the other hand, low redshift measurements such as those using Cepheid variables and supernovae Type Ia (SNIa) have obtained a significantly larger value. For instance, Riess et al. reported $H_0 = 73.04 \pm 1.04 \, \rm{km \, s^{-1} \, Mpc^{-1}}$, which is $5\sigma$ apart of the prediction from Planck observations. This tension is a major problem in cosmology nowadays, and it is not clear yet if it comes from systematic effects or new physics. The use of new methods to infer the Hubble constant is therefore essential to shed light on this matter. In this paper, we discuss using the ages of the oldest astrophysical objects (OAO) to probe the Hubble tension. We show that, although this data can provide additional information, the method can also artificially introduce a tension. Reanalyzing the ages of 114 OAO, we obtain that the constraint in the Hubble constant goes from slightly disfavoring local measurements to favoring them.