Cosmology-marginalized approaches in Bayesian model comparison: the neutrino mass as a case study

Abstract

We propose here a \emph{novel} method which singles out the \emph{a priori} unavoidable dependence on the underlying cosmological model when extracting parameter constraints, providing robust limits which only depend on the considered dataset. Interestingly, when dealing with several possible cosmologies and interpreting the Bayesian preference in terms of the Gaussian statistical evidence, the preferred model is much less favored than when only two cases are compared. As a working example, we apply our approach to the cosmological neutrino mass bounds, which play a fundamental role not only in establishing the contribution of relic neutrinos to the dark matter of the Universe, but also in the planning of future experimental searches of the neutrino character and of the neutrino mass ordering.

arXiv comment6 pages, 1 table, 2 figures; matches version accepted for publication in PRD

References in corpus (61)

• Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
• Efficient Computation of CMB anisotropies in closed FRW models
• Cosmological parameters from CMB and other data: a Monte-Carlo approach
• The 6dF Galaxy Survey: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and the Local Hubble Constant
• The clustering of galaxies in the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations in the Data Release 10 and 11 galaxy samples
• The Clustering of the SDSS DR7 Main Galaxy Sample I: A 4 per cent Distance Measure at z=0.15
• Bayes in the sky: Bayesian inference and model selection in cosmology
• New Parallaxes of Galactic Cepheids from Spatially Scanning the Hubble Space Telescope: Implications for the Hubble Constant
• PolyChord: nested sampling for cosmology
• PolyChord: next-generation nested sampling
• Dark Energy from Mass Varying Neutrinos
• Planck 2015 results. XV. Gravitational lensing
• Constraints on the sum of the neutrino masses in dynamical dark energy models with $w(z)\ge -1$ are tighter than those obtained in $\Lambda$CDM
• Cosmology seeking friendship with sterile neutrinos
• Dark coupling
• Neutrino Mass Ordering from Oscillations and Beyond: 2018 Status and Future Prospects
• Reducing the $H_0$ and ${\sigma }_8$ tensions with Dark Matter-neutrino interactions
• Sterile neutrinos with eV masses in cosmology -- how disfavoured exactly?
• Separating Dark Physics from Physical Darkness: Minimalist Modified Gravity vs. Dark Energy
• Cosmology with massive neutrinos coupled to dark energy
• Galileon Gravity in Light of ISW, CMB, BAO and $H_0$ data
• On the stability of Dark Energy with Mass-Varying Neutrinos
• Neutrinoless Universe
• Updated constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions from Planck
• Cosmology of Mass-Varying Neutrinos Driven by Quintessence: Theory and Observations
• Robust Neutrino Constraints by Combining Low Redshift Observations with the CMB
• Cosmic Degeneracies I: Joint N-body Simulations of Modified Gravity and Massive Neutrinos
• Updated Bounds on Sum of Neutrino Masses in Various Cosmological Scenarios
• Structure formation with strongly interacting neutrinos - implications for the cosmological neutrino mass bound
• Cosmological Signatures of Interacting Neutrinos
• Neutrino masses and their ordering: Global Data, Priors and Models
• Small neutrino masses from gravitational $\theta$-term
• Beyond six parameters: extending $\Lambda$CDM
• Constraints on massive sterile neutrino species from current and future cosmological data
• Observational bounds on the cosmic radiation density
• Neutrino Dark Energy -- Revisiting the Stability Issue
• Impact of neutrino properties on the estimation of inflationary parameters from current and future observations
• Neutrino clustering in growing neutrino quintessence
• Increasing Neff with particles in thermal equilibrium with neutrinos
• Strong Bayesian Evidence for the Normal Neutrino Hierarchy
• Do current cosmological observations rule out all Covariant Galileons?
• Changing the prior: absolute neutrino mass constraints in nonlocal gravity
• Exploring neutrino mass and mass hierarchy in the scenario of vacuum energy interacting with cold dark matter
• EFTCAMB/EFTCosmoMC: massive neutrinos in dark cosmologies
• Objective Bayesian analysis of neutrino masses and hierarchy
• How robust are inflation model and dark matter constraints from cosmological data?
• Dark Radiation candidates after Planck
• Neutrino Mass Priors for Cosmology from Random Matrices
• Hiding neutrino mass in modified gravity cosmologies
• Simultaneous constraints on the number and mass of relativistic species
• $\nu$Galileon: modified gravity with massive neutrinos as a testable alternative to $\Lambda$CDM
• Neutrino and Dark Radiation properties in light of latest CMB observations
• Dark Radiation and Inflationary Freedom after Planck 2015
• Testing standard and non-standard neutrino physics with cosmological data
• Inflationary Freedom and Cosmological Neutrino Constraints
• Constraints on Neutrino Mass and Light Degrees of Freedom in Extended Cosmological Parameter Spaces
• Comment on "Strong Evidence for the Normal Neutrino Hierarchy"
• Testing for New Physics: Neutrinos and the Primordial Power Spectrum
• Higher neutrino mass allowed if Cold Dark Matter and Dark Energy are coupled
• Neutrino Masses from Cosmological Probes in Interacting Neutrino Dark-Energy Models
• Instabilities in dark coupled models and constraints from cosmological data

Cited by in corpus (23)

• 2020 Global reassessment of the neutrino oscillation picture
• Neutrino physics with the PTOLEMY project: active neutrino properties and the light sterile case
• On the most constraining cosmological neutrino mass bounds
• Inflation meets neutrinos
• Neutrino cosmology after DESI: tightest mass upper limits, preference for the normal ordering, and tension with terrestrial observations
• Quantifying dimensionality: Bayesian cosmological model complexities
• Bounds on light sterile neutrino mass and mixing from cosmology and laboratory searches
• Long Range Interactions in Cosmology: Implications for Neutrinos
• How to relax the cosmological neutrino mass bound
• Neutrino mass and mass ordering: No conclusive evidence for normal ordering
• Model marginalized constraints on neutrino properties from cosmology
• Neutrino Masses and Mass Hierarchy: Evidence for the Normal Hierarchy
• Quantifying the tension between cosmological and terrestrial constraints on neutrino masses
• Bayesian reconstruction of the inflaton's speed of sound using CMB data
• An absolute $\nu$ mass measurement with the DUNE experiment
• A novel model-marginalized cosmological bound on the QCD axion mass
• Impact of the damping tail on neutrino mass constraints
• Constraining power of open likelihoods, made prior-independent
• How robust are the parameter constraints extending the $\Lambda$CDM model?
• Cornering (quasi) degenerate neutrinos with cosmology
• First Search for Unstable Sterile Neutrinos with the IceCube Neutrino Observatory
• Discovery probabilities of Majorana neutrinos based on cosmological data
• Constraining Early Dark Energy cosmological models with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis