Fresh Look at Neutrino Self-Interactions With the Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest: Constraints from EFT and PRIYA Simulations

Abstract

We present the first search for evidence of neutrino self-interaction with two new, state-of-the-art likelihoods for eBOSS Lyman-$\alpha$ data. These are an effective field theory (EFT) likelihood with priors from the Sherwood simulation suite, and a compressed likelihood derived from an emulator built using the PRIYA simulation suite. Previous analyses that combined Planck measurements with eBOSS Lyman-$\alpha$ likelihoods based on earlier simulations found a preference for neutrino self-interactions. In contrast, using either of the new eBOSS Lyman-$\alpha$ likelihoods, we find that a joint analysis with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from Planck prefers a negligible level of neutrino self-interaction, and derive new constraints on the neutrino self-coupling: ${\log }_{10}(G_{\mathrm{eff}}{\mathrm{MeV}}^2)=-5.57_{-0.58}^{+0.98}$ for Planck + EFT Lyman-$\alpha$, and ${\log }_{10}(G_{\mathrm{eff}}{\mathrm{MeV}}^2)=-5.16_{-0.67}^{+1.12}$ for Planck + PRIYA Lyman-$\alpha$, at 68% confidence. We also consider Planck in combination with DESI BAO data, and find that the latter does not provide significant constraining power for neutrino self-interactions.

20 pages, 7 figures. v2: minor wording changes + additional appendix

References in corpus (33)

• DESI 2024 VI: Cosmological Constraints from the Measurements of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 Gravitational Lensing Map and Cosmological Parameters
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the DR6 CMB Lensing Power Spectrum and its Implications for Structure Growth
• A non-linear solution to the $S_8$ tension?
• Interacting neutrinos in cosmology: exact description and constraints
• Updated constraints on massive neutrino self-interactions from cosmology in light of the $H_0$ tension
• Interacting radiation after Planck and its implications for the Hubble Tension
• Inflation meets neutrinos
• Ultra-light axions and the $S_8$ tension: joint constraints from the cosmic microwave background and galaxy clustering
• The Hubble Tension as a Hint of Leptogenesis and Neutrino Mass Generation
• Neutrino Self-Interactions and Double Beta Decay
• Probing Secret Interactions of Astrophysical Neutrinos in the High-Statistics Era
• Precision constraints for three-flavor neutrino oscillations from the full MINOS+ and MINOS data set
• Measurement of Atmospheric Neutrino Mixing with Improved IceCube DeepCore Calibration and Data Processing
• Time-varying neutrino mass from a supercooled phase transition: current cosmological constraints and impact on the ${\Omega }_m$-${\sigma }_8$ plane
• Solving the Hubble tension without spoiling Big Bang Nucleosynthesis
• Massive neutrino self-interactions and inflation
• Self-Interacting Neutrinos in Light of Large-Scale Structure Data
• The two-mode puzzle: Confronting self-interacting neutrinos with the full shape of the galaxy power spectrum
• $S_8$ Tension in the Context of Dark Matter-Baryon Scattering
• $5\sigma$ tension between Planck cosmic microwave background and eBOSS Lyman-alpha forest and constraints on physics beyond $\Lambda$CDM
• PRIYA: A New Suite of Lyman-alpha Forest Simulations for Cosmology
• Cosmological Constraints from the eBOSS Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest using the PRIYA Simulations
• High-energy cosmic neutrinos as a probe of the vector mediator scenario in light of the muon $g-2$ anomaly and Hubble tension
• Compressing the cosmological information in one-dimensional correlations of the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest
• Non-linearities in the Lyman-$\alpha$ forest and in its cross-correlation with dark matter halos
• Neutrino As The Dark Force
• Constraints on ionising photon production from the large-scale Lyman-alpha forest
• Resonant neutrino self-interactions and the $H_0$ tension
• The ACCEL${}^2$ project: simulating Lyman-$\alpha$ forest in large-volume hydrodynamical simulations
• The ACCEL2 Project: Precision Measurements of EFT Parameters and BAO Peak Shifts for the Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest
• Free-Streaming Neutrinos and Their Phase Shift in Current and Future CMB Power Spectra
• Measurement of ${\nu }_{\mu }$ Charged-Current Inclusive ${\pi }^0$ Production in the NOvA Near Detector

Cited by in corpus (4)

• Directly Probing Neutrino Interactions through CMB Phase Shift Measurements
• Early Growth of Structure in Warm Wave Dark Matter
• Impostor Among $\nu$s: Dark Radiation Masquerading as Self-Interacting Neutrinos
• Modeling the Cosmological Lyman-$\alpha$ Forest at the Field Level