Model independent inference of the expansion history and implications for the growth of structure

A ``crisis in cosmology'' is lurking in recent measurements of the Hubble constant H₀ (the current expansion rate of the Universe), caused by a tension between direct observations through distance measurements and an inferred value, computed with the standard model of cosmology (CDM) from CMB data. The latter involves an approx. 13 billion years time evolution. The authors use statistical methods to analyze different available data sets from different kind of observations that carry information about different moments from the evolution of the Universe, to determine H₀ in a model independent way, making only minimal basic assumptions, and find that the tension with direct observation of H₀ persists.