Hot New Early Dark Energy: Dark Radiation Matter Decoupling

Abstract

We present a microscopic model of the dark sector that resolves the Hubble tension within standard current data sets (Planck 2018, Pantheon+ and DESI DR2 BAO) based on well-known fundamental principles, gauge symmetry and spontaneous symmetry breaking. It builds on the Hot New Early Dark Energy (Hot NEDE) setup, featuring a dark $SU(N)$ gauge symmetry broken to $SU(N-1)$ in a supercooled phase transition that creates a thermal bath of self-interacting dark radiation in the epoch between Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and recombination. Adding a fermion multiplet charged under the gauge symmetry provides a naturally stable component of dark matter that interacts with dark radiation. Spontaneous symmetry breaking predicts a decoupling of this interaction once the dark sector cools down, that we refer to as dark radiation matter decoupling (DRMD). We also provide a simplified DRMD model that captures the essential features of the full theory while retaining additional falsifiable predictions. Using the data sets stated above, we find agreement with the SH${}_0$ES determination of $H_0$ at the 1.4$\sigma$ level, compared to a 5.7$\sigma$ tension in $\Lambda$CDM, thereby providing a resolution of the Hubble tension.