http://arxiv.org/abs/1701.08172
Using some of the latest cosmological datasets publicly available, we derive the strongest bounds in the literature on the sum of the three active neutrino masses, $M_\nu$. In the most conservative scheme, combining Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) temperature anisotropies and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) data, as well as the up-to-date constraint on the optical depth to reionization ($\tau$), the tightest $95\%$ confidence level (C.L.) upper bound we find is $M_\nu<0.151$~eV. The addition of Planck high-$\ell$ polarization tightens the bound to $M_\nu<0.118$~eV. Further improvements are possible when a less conservative prior on the Hubble parameter is added, bringing down the $95\%$~C.L. upper limit to $\sim 0.09$~eV. The three aforementioned combinations exclude values of $M_\nu$ larger than the minimal value allowed in the inverted hierarchical (IH) mass ordering, $0.0986$~eV, at $\sim 82\%$~C.L., $\sim 91\%$~C.L., and $\sim 96\%$~C.L. respectively. A proper model comparison treatment shows that the same combinations exclude the IH at $\sim 64\%$~C.L., $\sim 71\%$~C.L., and $\sim 77\%$~C.L. respectively. We test the stability of the bounds against the distribution of the total mass $M_\nu$ among the three mass eigenstates, finding that these are relatively stable against the choice of distributing the total mass among three (the usual approximation) or one mass eigenstate. Finally, we compare the constraining power of measurements of the full-shape galaxy power spectrum versus the BAO signature, from the BOSS survey. Even though the latest BOSS full shape measurements cover a larger volume and benefit from smaller error bars compared to previous similar measurements, the analysis method commonly adopted results in their constraining power still being less powerful than that of the extracted BAO signal. (abridged)
S. Vagnozzi, E. Giusarma, O. Mena, et. al.
Tue, 31 Jan 17
15/58
Comments: 26 pages, 6 figures, abstract severely abridged, comments are very welcome