Exploring the Hubble Tension and Spatial Curvature from the Ages of Old Astrophysical Objects

We use the age measurements of 114 old astrophysical objects (OAO) in the redshift range 0 less than or similar to z less than or similar to 8 to explore the Hubble tension. The age of the universe at any z is inversely proportional to the Hubble constant, H-0, so requiring the universe to be older than the OAO it contains at any z will lead to an upper limit on H-0. Assuming flat ACDM and setting a Gaussian prior on the matter density parameter Omega(m) = 0.315 +/- 0.007 informed by Planck, we obtain a 95% confidence level upper limit of H-0 < 70.6 km s(-1) Mpc(-1), representing a 2 sigma tension with the measurement using the local distance ladder. We find, however, that the inferred upper limit on H-0 depends quite sensitively on the prior for Omega(m), and the Hubble tension between early-time and local measurements of H-0 may be due in part to the inference of both Omega(m) and H-0 in Planck, while the local measurement uses only H-0. The age-redshift data may also be used for cosmological model comparisons. We find that the R-h = ct universe accounts well for the data, with a reasonable upper limit on H-0, while Einstein-de Sitter fails to pass the cosmic-age test. Finally, we present a model-independent estimate of the spatial curvature using the ages of 61 galaxies and the luminosity distances of 1048 Pantheon Type Ia supernovae. This analysis suggests that the geometry of the universe is marginally consistent with spatial flatness at a confidence level of 1.6 sigma, characterized as Omega(k) = 0.43(-0.27)(+0.27).

Automated summary

We analyzed the ages of 114 old astrophysical objects in the redshift range 0 to 8 to investigate the Hubble tension. By assuming a flat ACDM model and setting a Gaussian prior on Omega(m), we obtained an upper limit on the Hubble constant H-0. The inferred upper limit strongly depends on the prior for Omega(m), suggesting a possible explanation for the tension between early-time and local measurements of H-0. We also found that the R-h = ct universe model fits the data well, while the Einstein-de Sitter model fails the cosmic-age test. Additionally, we estimated the spatial curvature of the universe using the ages of 61 galaxies and the luminosity distances of 1048 Type Ia supernovae, finding marginal consistency with spatial flatness.