Showing papers by "Elena Giusarma published in 2012"

New neutrino mass bounds from sdss-iii data release 8 photometric luminous galaxies

Abstract: We present neutrino mass bounds using 900,000 luminous galaxies with photometric redshifts measured from Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Data Release 8. The galaxies have photometric redshifts between z = 0.45 and z = 0.65 and cover 10,000 deg2, thus probing a volume of 3 h –3 Gpc3 and enabling tight constraints to be derived on the amount of dark matter in the form of massive neutrinos. A new bound on the sum of neutrino masses ∑m ν < 0.27 eV, at the 95% confidence level (CL), is obtained after combining our sample of galaxies, which we call "CMASS," with Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) seven-year cosmic microwave background data and the most recent measurement of the Hubble parameter from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This constraint is obtained with a conservative multipole range of 30 < l < 200 in order to minimize nonlinearities, and a free bias parameter in each of the four redshift bins. We study the impact of assuming this linear galaxy bias model using mock catalogs and find that this model causes a small (~1σ-1.5σ) bias in ΩDM h 2. For this reason, we also quote neutrino bounds based on a conservative galaxy bias model containing additional, shot-noise-like free parameters. In this conservative case, the bounds are significantly weakened, e.g., ∑m ν < 0.38 eV (95% CL) for WMAP+HST+CMASS (lmax = 200). We also study the dependence of the neutrino bound on the multipole range (lmax = 150 versus lmax = 200) and on which combination of data sets is included as a prior. The addition of supernova and/or baryon acoustic oscillation data does not significantly improve the neutrino mass bound once the HST prior is included. A companion paper describes the construction of the angular power spectra in detail and derives constraints on a general cosmological model, including the dark energy equation of state w and the spatial curvature Ω K , while a second companion paper presents a measurement of the scale of baryon acoustic oscillations from the same data set. All three works are based on the catalog by Ross et al.

New Neutrino Mass Bounds from Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Data Release 8 Photometric Luminous Galaxies

Abstract: We present neutrino mass bounds using 900,000 luminous galaxies with photometric redshifts measured from Sloan Digital Sky Survey III Data Release Eight (SDSS DR8). The galaxies have photometric redshifts between $z = 0.45$ and $z = 0.65$, and cover 10,000 square degrees and thus probe a volume of 3$h^{-3}$Gpc$^3$, enabling tight constraints to be derived on the amount of dark matter in the form of massive neutrinos. A new bound on the sum of neutrino masses $\sum m_ u < 0.26$ eV, at 95% confidence level (CL), is obtained after combining our sample of galaxies, which we call "CMASS", with WMAP 7 year Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) data and the most recent measurement of the Hubble parameter from the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This constraint is obtained with a conservative multipole range choice of $30 < \ell < 200$ in order to minimize non-linearities, and a free bias parameter in each of the four redshift bins. We study the impact of assuming this linear galaxy bias model using mock catalogs, and find that this model causes a small ($\sim 1-1.5 \sigma$) bias in $\Omega_{\rm DM} h^2$. For this reason, we also quote neutrino bounds based on a conservative galaxy bias model containing additional, shot noise-like free parameters. In this conservative case, the bounds are significantly weakened, e.g. $\sum m_ u < 0.36$ eV (95% confidence level) for WMAP+HST+CMASS ($\ell_{\rm max}=200$). We also study the dependence of the neutrino bound on multipole range ($\ell_{\rm max}=150$ vs $\ell_{\rm max}=200$) and on which combination of data sets is included as a prior. The addition of supernova and/or Baryon Acoustic Oscillation data does not significantly improve the neutrino mass bound once the HST prior is included. [abridged]

Sterile neutrino models and nonminimal cosmologies

Abstract: Cosmological measurements are affected by the energy density of massive neutrinos. We extend here a recent analysis of current cosmological data to nonminimal cosmologies. Several possible scenarios are examined: a constant $w\ensuremath{ e}\ensuremath{-}1$ dark energy equation of state, a nonflat universe, a time-varying dark energy component and coupled dark matter-dark energy universes or modified gravity scenarios. When considering cosmological data only, ($3+2$) massive neutrino models with $\ensuremath{\sim}0.5\text{ }\text{ }\mathrm{eV}$ sterile species are allowed at 95% confidence level. This scenario has been shown to reconcile reactor, LSND and MiniBooNE positive signals with null results from other searches. Big bang nucleosynthesis bounds could compromise the viability of ($3+2$) models if the two sterile species are fully thermalized states at decoupling.

Dark Radiation in extended cosmological scenarios

Abstract: Recent cosmological data have provided evidence for a "dark" relativistic background at high statistical significance. Parameterized in terms of the number of relativistic degrees of freedom Neff, however, the current data seems to indicate a higher value than the one expected in the standard scenario based on three active neutrinos. This dark radiation component can be characterized not only by its abundance but also by its clustering properties, as its effective sound speed and its viscosity parameter. It is therefore crucial to study the correlations among the dark radiation properties and key cosmological parameters, as the dark energy equation of state or the running of the scalar spectral index, with current and future CMB data. We find that dark radiation with viscosity parameters different from their standard values may be misinterpreted as an evolving dark energy component or as a running spectral index in the power spectrum of primordial fluctuations.