New cosmic lensing test sharpens the Hubble tension and hints at new physics

Astronomers have developed a new method using gravitationally lensed quasars to measure cosmic expansion, bypassing traditional distance ladder techniques. By analyzing time delays in light from eight quasar systems bent around massive galaxies, researchers achieved 4.5% precision and found results supporting the higher expansion rate of around 73 km/s/Mpc rather than the 67 km/s/Mpc from cosmic microwave background measurements. This independent confirmation strengthens evidence that the "Hubble tension" may represent real physics requiring new theories rather than measurement errors.