Published June 21, 2024 | Version v1
Journal article

Possible impact of non-Gaussianities on cosmological constraints in neutrino physics

  • 1. Physics Department and INFN, Università di Roma "La Sapienza", Piazza le Aldo Moro 2, 00185, Rome, Italy
  • 2. School of Mathematics and Statistics, University of Sheffield, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield S3 7RH, United Kingdom
  • 3. Department of Mathematics, Presidency University, 86/1 College Street, Kolkata 700073, India
  • 4. Institute of Systems Science, Durban University of Technology, P.O. Box 1334, Durban 4000, Republic of South Africa

Description

The search for non-Gaussian signatures in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) is crucial for understanding the physics of the early Universe. Given the possibility of non-Gaussian fluctuations in the CMB, a recent revision to the standard Λ-cold dark matter (ΛCDM) model has been proposed, dubbed "super-ΛCDM." This model introduces additional free parameters to account for the potential effects of a trispectrum in the primordial fluctuations. In this study, we explore the impact of the super-ΛCDM model on current constraints in neutrino physics. In agreement with previous research, our analysis reveals that, for most of the datasets, the super-ΛCDM parameter A0 significantly deviates from zero at over a 95% confidence level. We then demonstrate that this signal might influence current constraints in the neutrino sector. Specifically, we find that the current constraints on neutrino masses may be relaxed by over a factor of 2 within the super-ΛCDM framework, thanks to the correlation present with A0; such relaxation persists even when we apply constraints to the trispectrum from local measurements, assuming a strong similarity between the two forms. Consequently, locking A0=0 might introduce a bias, leading to overly stringent constraints on the total neutrino mass.

Additional details

Identifiers

DOI
10.1103/PhysRevD.109.123532;
arXiv
arXiv:2311.04038;
Crossref Funder ID
10.13039/501100004007; 10.13039/501100001409; 10.13039/501100000921; 10.13039/501100000858;

Publishing Information

Journal Title
Physical Review D
Journal Volume
109
Journal Issue
12
Journal Page Range
17 pgs.
ISSN
1089-4918

Optional Information

Copyright
© 2024 American Physical Society
Contract/Grant/Project number
SR/FST/MS-I/2019/41; CA21136
Notes
Contact Email: matteo.forconi@roma1.infn.it; Contact Email: e.divalentino@sheffield.ac.uk; Contact Email: alessandro.melchiorri@roma1.infn.it; Contact Email: supriya.maths@presiuniv.ac.in; Record automatically processed
Funding organization
Instituto Nazionale di Fisica Nucleare; Department of Science and Technology, Ministry of Science and Technology, India; European Cooperation in Science and Technology; University of Sheffield; Royal Society Dorothy Hodgkin Research Fellowship