Alleviating the Hubble Tension Using Coupled Dark Energy - Dark Matter Interaction
Abstract
We investigate two interacting dark energy models, ξCDM and ξwCDM, as potential means of alleviating the H0 tension, using DESI DR2 BAO data along with the Planck 2018 CMB, Pantheon+ SNe Ia, and KiDS-1000/DES-Y3 weak lensing data. For the ξCDM model, with a free coupling strength (ξ) and fixed dark energy equation-of-state (w0), we find H0 = 71.59+1.69−2.30kms−1Mpc−1 from Planck-only data, tightening to 69.72+0.50−0.41kms−1Mpc−1 for the complete Planck+BAO+SN+WL dataset, reducing the tension from ∼5.0σ to ∼2.8σ. In the ξwCDM model, with both ξ and w0 free, Planck-only data provide H0 = 72.46+4.05−3.66kms−1Mpc−1, while the full dataset yields H0 = 70.22+0.45−0.40kms−1Mpc−1, reducing the tension to ∼2.5σ, with phantom preference w0 = −1.116+0.043−0.043 and negative coupling ξ= −0.107+0.012−0.023. With the convention −ξH ρde >0, the negative coupling (ξ< 0) points to Q > 0, giving continuous energy transfer from dark energy to dark matter. This interaction modifies the evolution of the dark sector and the expansion history from early to late times, shifting the inferred H0 to higher values. For the ξwCDM model, Planck+BAO+SN yields a substantial improvement in fit (Δχ2=−14.60) and a strong AIC preference (ΔAIC=−10.60), but ΔBIC = +0.30 weakly prefers ΛCDM. Inclusion of WL data weakens the fit improvement (Δχ2 = −6.67) yielding ΔBIC = +8.23, a strong BIC preference for ΛCDM. This AIC/BIC discrepancy shows that the data favor the extra dark sector freedom, but not strongly enough to overcome the BIC penalty. These interacting models are therefore viable mechanisms for alleviating the H0 tension.
Related
- Alleviating CMB-BAO tension with a large cosmic birefringence angle during reionization induced by energy injection to axion-like particles
- Revisiting the Hubble tension with an inverse power-law early dark energy
- Resolving the Hubble Tension in the Early Dark Energy Framework with JWST and DESI Data
- Four-Sector Cosmology: A CPT-Symmetric Resolution of the Hubble Tension, Dark Matter, and Dark Energy
- f(Q,T) Gravity with Barrow Holographic Dark Energy and Massive Neutrinos: DESI DR2 Constraints and Implications for the Hubble Tension
BibTeX
@misc{ambelu2026alleviating,
title = {{Alleviating the Hubble Tension Using Coupled Dark Energy - Dark Matter Interaction}},
author = {Yismaw Wassie Ambelu and Amare Abebe and Solomon Belay Tessema and Shambel Sahlu},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2605.01904},
eprint = {2605.01904},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.01904},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - Alleviating the Hubble Tension Using Coupled Dark Energy - Dark Matter Interaction
AU - Yismaw Wassie Ambelu
AU - Amare Abebe
AU - Solomon Belay Tessema
AU - Shambel Sahlu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/03
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2605.01904
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.01904
AB - We investigate two interacting dark energy models, ξCDM and ξwCDM, as potential means of alleviating the H_0 tension, using DESI DR2 BAO data along with the Planck 2018 CMB, Pantheon+ SNe Ia, and KiDS-1000/DES-Y3 weak lensing data. For the ξCDM model, with a free coupling strength (ξ) and fixed dark energy equation-of-state (w_0), we find H_0 = 71.59^+1.69_−2.30kms^−1Mpc^−1 from Planck-only data, tightening to 69.72^+0.50_−0.41kms^−1Mpc^−1 for the complete Planck+BAO+SN+WL dataset, reducing the tension from ∼5.0σ to ∼2.8σ. In the ξwCDM model, with both ξ and w_0 free, Planck-only data provide H_0 = 72.46^+4.05_−3.66kms^−1Mpc^−1, while the full dataset yields H_0 = 70.22^+0.45_−0.40kms^−1Mpc^−1, reducing the tension to ∼2.5σ, with phantom preference w_0 = −1.116^+0.043_−0.043 and negative coupling ξ= −0.107^+0.012_−0.023. With the convention −ξH ρ_de >0, the negative coupling (ξ< 0) points to Q > 0, giving continuous energy transfer from dark energy to dark matter. This interaction modifies the evolution of the dark sector and the expansion history from early to late times, shifting the inferred H_0 to higher values. For the ξwCDM model, Planck+BAO+SN yields a substantial improvement in fit (Δχ^2=−14.60) and a strong AIC preference (ΔAIC=−10.60), but ΔBIC = +0.30 weakly prefers ΛCDM. Inclusion of WL data weakens the fit improvement (Δχ^2 = −6.67) yielding ΔBIC = +8.23, a strong BIC preference for ΛCDM. This AIC/BIC discrepancy shows that the data favor the extra dark sector freedom, but not strongly enough to overcome the BIC penalty. These interacting models are therefore viable mechanisms for alleviating the H_0 tension.
ER -