Modified Cosmological Expansion and the JWST CMB Optical Depth Tension in Self Interaction Gravity

Abstract

Recent James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) observations favor an earlier and more efficient reionization history, leading to Thomson-scattering optical depths larger than those inferred from the cosmic microwave background (CMB). We investigate whether this tension can be alleviated within the framework of self-interaction (SI) gravity by modifying the cosmological expansion history while retaining the standard astrophysical description of reionization. The SI gravity parameters are constrained through a Bayesian MCMC analysis of the Union3 Type Ia supernova and DESI DR2 Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) data. The resulting expansion history is then used to predict the ionization history and Thomson optical depth. We find that the predicted optical depth decreases from $τ_{\rm{CMB}}\simeq0.076$ in $Λ$CDM to $τ_{\rm{CMB}}\simeq0.061$, consistent with the Planck PR4 measurement within $1σ$, thereby substantially reducing the optical-depth tension.