Abstract :
The apparent cosmological conflict between the age of the Universe, predicted in the standard Friedmann cosmology by using the recent measurements of the larger Hubble constant from a direct calibration of the distance to the Virgo galaxy cluster, and the ages of the oldest stars and globular clusters is resolved by invoking the scale dependence of cosmological quantities, including the age of the Universe. The distance dependence or the running of cosmological quantities is motivated by the asymptotically-free higher-derivative quantum gravity. The running can also be derived by “properly” modifying the Friedmann equations. This property may shed some light on the difference between the recent measurements of the Hubble constant using NGC 4571 at 15 Mpc, M100 at 17.1 Mpc and the type Ia supernovae.
