Constraints on Hubble's Constant, Omega_baryon and Lambda from Cosmic Microwave Background Observations

Abstract

In this paper we compare data to theory. We use a compilation of the most recent cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements to constrain Hubble's constant h, the baryon fraction Omega_b, and the cosmological constant lambda. We fit h-, Omega_b- and lambda-dependent power spectra to the data. The models we consider are flat cold dark matter (CDM) dominated universes with flat (n=1) power spectra, thus the results obtained apply only to these models. CMB observations can exclude more than half of the h - Omega_b parameter space explored. The CMB data favor low values of Hubble's constant; h \approx 0.35. Low values of Omega_b are preferred (Omega_b ~ 0.03) but the chi-squared minimum is shallow and we obtain Omega_b < 0.28. A model with h \approx 0.40, Omega_b \approx 0.15 and Omega_CDM \approx 0.85 is permitted by constraints from the CMB data, BBN, cluster baryon fractions and the shape parameter Gamma derived from the mass density power spectra of galaxies and clusters. For flat-lambda models, the CMB data, combined with BBN constraints exclude most of the h - lambda plane. Models with Omega_o \approx 0.3, lambda \approx 0.7 with h \approx 0.75 are fully consistent with the CMB data but are excluded by the strict new q_{o} limits from supernovae (Perlmutter et al. 1996). A combination of CMB data goodness-of-fit statistics, BBN and supernovae constraints in the h-lambda plane, limits Hubble's constant to the interval 0.23 < h < 0.72.