An original constraint on the Hubble constant: h>0.74

TL;DR

This paper proposes a novel method to establish a lower limit on the Hubble constant using gamma-ray absorption data, resulting in a constraint of H0 > 74 km/s/Mpc, supporting higher values.

Contribution

It introduces an original, independent approach to constrain H0 based on gamma-ray absorption by the cosmic infrared background.

Findings

H0 > 74 km/s/Mpc at 68% confidence level

Supports the upper range of existing H0 estimates

Provides a new independent constraint on the Hubble constant

Abstract

The Hubble parameter H0 still not very well measured. Although the Hubble Key Project, Chandra and WMAP gave good estimates, the uncertainties remain quite large. In this brief report, we suggest an original and independent method to derive a lower limit on H0 using the absorption of very high energy gamma-rays by the cosmic infrared background. With conservative hypothesis, we obtain H0>74 km/s/Mpc at the 68% confidence level, which favors the upper end of the intervals allowed by dedicated experiments.