Year: 2013
Type: article
Abstract: We use Bayesian model comparison to determine whether extensions to Standard-Model neutrino physics — primarily additional effective numbers of neutrinos and/or massive neutrinos — are merited by the latest cosmological data. Given the significant advances in cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations represented by the Planck data, we examine whether Planck temperature and CMB lensing data, in combination with lower redshift data, have strengthened (or weakened) the previous findings. We conclude that the state-of-the-art cosmological data do not show evidence for deviations from the standard (ΛCDM) cosmological model (which has three massless neutrino families). This does not mean that the model is necessarily correct — in fact we know it is incomplete as neutrinos are not massless — but it does imply that deviations from the standard model (e.g., non-zero neutrino mass) are too small compared to the current experimental uncertainties to be inferred from cosmological data alone.
Institutions: Institució Catalana de Recerca i Estudis Avançats, Institut de Ciències del Cosmos, European Organization for Nuclear Research, Universitat de Barcelona, University College London, Imperial College London, University of California, Santa Barbara, Kavli Institute for Theoretical Physics
Language: English
Subfield: Astronomy and Astrophysics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
Funders: National Science Foundation, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Silicon Valley Community Foundation, Foundational Questions Institute, UK Space Agency, Leverhulme Trust, Science Foundation Ireland, Partnership for Advanced Computing in Europe AISBL, Centre National d’Etudes Spatiales, Tekes, Max-Planck-Gesellschaft, China Scholarship Council, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique, Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior, Goddard Space Flight Center, Science and Technology Facilities Council, Fundação para a Ciência e a Tecnologia, Institut National de Physique Nucléaire et de Physique des Particules, Astrophysics Science Division, FP7 Ideas: European Research Council
Awards: Imperial College Astrophysics & Space Physics Consolidated Grant April 2013 - March 2016, G3456816189, G3467815775, G4104599821, G4201897825, G4349084350, Cosmological Physics with future large-scale structure surveys, Understanding the Origin of Cosmic Structure, Cosmology from Surveys, G7321284446, G7954596376
OpenAlex ID: W2065955225