Scrutinizing Early Dark Energy models through CMB lensing

Abstract: We investigate early dark energy models in the context of the lensing anomaly by considering two different Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) datasets: a complete Planck, and a second one primarily based on SPTPol and Planck temperature ($l<1000$). We contrast the effects of allowing the phenomenological lensing amplitude ($\Al$) to be different from unity. We find that the fraction of early dark energy, while not immediately affected by the lensing anomaly, can induce mild deviations, through correlations with the parameters $H_0$ and $S_8$. {We extend the analysis also by marginalizing the Newtonian lensing potential, finding a $\gtrsim 1\sigma$ deviation, when allowing for an amplitude rescaling and scale-dependence. Modeling the rescaling of the theory lensing potential and the acoustic smoothing of the CMB spectra, we find that only to a moderate level the anomaly can be addressed by modifying the lensing signal itself and that an additional $\Al \sim 1.1$ at $\sim 2\sigma$ significance should be addressed by pre-recombination physics. Finally, we also comment on the lensing anomaly in a non-flat ($\Omega_{\rm k} \neq 0$) scenario, finding that the late-time flatness of the universe is robust and not correlated with the additional smoothing in the CMB spectra.