New Interpretations of the Cosmological Preference for a Negative Neutrino Mass

Abstract

Recent observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) show some tension with a $\Lambda$CDM cosmology. For one, the cosmological parameters determined by the CMB are at odds with the expansion history determined by latest BAO measurements. In addition, the combined data has placed uncomfortably strong constraints on neutrino mass. Both effects can be interpreted as negative neutrino mass, one describing the change to the expansion history and the other one describing enhanced lensing. In this paper, we show the current tensions can be solved with a single change either to the lensing of the CMB or the expansion of the universe. We show additional lensing could arise from a variety of models with new light fields. However, these models rarely give the same signal in temperature and polarization, giving a concrete test of the scenario. Alternatively, dark sector models can explain the changes to the expansion by changing the evolution of the matter density. These models introduce new forces, giving rise to long range signals in the three-point statistics of galaxies. We discuss a range of other examples which all illustrate the pattern that additional signals should appear if these tensions are explained by beyond the Standard Model physics.

arXiv comment53+6 pages, 12 figures; v2: Updated to match published version

References in corpus (124)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• Array Programming with NumPy
• Planck 2015 results. XIII. Cosmological parameters
• Efficient Computation of CMB anisotropies in closed FRW models
• Gravitational Waves and Gamma-rays from a Binary Neutron Star Merger: GW170817 and GRB 170817A
• Cosmological parameters from CMB and other data: a Monte-Carlo approach
• Non-Gaussian features of primordial fluctuations in single field inflationary models
• Planck 2018 results. X. Constraints on inflation
• A Comprehensive Measurement of the Local Value of the Hubble Constant with 1 km/s/Mpc Uncertainty from the Hubble Space Telescope and the SH0ES Team
• The Cosmic Linear Anisotropy Solving System (CLASS) II: Approximation schemes
• Hierarchies from Fluxes in String Compactifications
• The Simons Observatory: Science goals and forecasts
• Constraining the Evolution of the Ionizing Background and the Epoch of Reionization with z ~ 6 Quasars II: A Sample of 19 Quasars
• An All-Sky Analysis of Polarization in the Microwave Background
• Planck 2018 results. V. CMB power spectra and likelihoods
• Weak Gravitational Lensing of the CMB
• DESI 2024 VI: Cosmological Constraints from the Measurements of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
• Massive neutrinos and cosmology
• Statistics of Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization
• New CAST Limit on the Axion-Photon Interaction
• Quantum Contributions to Cosmological Correlations
• Cosmology and fundamental physics with the Euclid satellite
• Cosmic Reionization and Early Star-Forming Galaxies: A Joint Analysis of New Constraints from Planck and Hubble Space Telescope
• Planck 2018 results. VIII. Gravitational lensing
• Cobaya: Code for Bayesian Analysis of hierarchical physical models
• Single field consistency relation for the 3-point function
• Quasi-Single Field Inflation and Non-Gaussianities
• Neutrinos in cosmology
• Efficient sampling of fast and slow cosmological parameters
• New Constraints on Cosmic Reionization from the 2012 Hubble Ultra Deep Field Campaign
• DESI DR2 Results II: Measurements of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and Cosmological Constraints
• The Confrontation between General Relativity and Experiment
• CMB power spectrum parameter degeneracies in the era of precision cosmology
• Model-independent evidence in favor of an end to reionization by z~6
• The shape of non-Gaussianities
• Weighing Neutrinos with Galaxy Surveys
• Evidence of patchy hydrogen reionization from an extreme Ly$\alpha$ trough below redshift six
• Holography and Compactification
• Signatures of Relativistic Neutrinos in CMB Anisotropy and Matter Clustering
• Reconstruction of lensing from the cosmic microwave background polarization
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: DR6 Gravitational Lensing Map and Cosmological Parameters
• Signatures of Supersymmetry from the Early Universe
• Planck intermediate results. LVII. Joint Planck LFI and HFI data processing
• Towards a precision calculation of $N_{\mathrm{eff}}$ in the Standard Model II: Neutrino decoupling in the presence of flavour oscillations and finite-temperature QED
• On Soft Limits of Inflationary Correlation Functions
• Neutrino decoupling including flavour oscillations and primordial nucleosynthesis
• A precision calculation of relic neutrino decoupling
• New Extraction of the Cosmic Birefringence from the Planck 2018 Polarization Data
• The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: A Measurement of the DR6 CMB Lensing Power Spectrum and its Implications for Structure Growth
• DESI and other dark energy experiments in the era of neutrino mass measurements
• GetDist: a Python package for analysing Monte Carlo samples
• Solid Inflation
• 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
• The Effective Field Theory of Multifield Inflation
• Neutrino mass from Cosmology
• Determining Neutrino Mass from the CMB Alone
• Towards a cosmological neutrino mass detection
• Cosmological Parameters from Cosmic Background Imager Observations and Comparisons with BOOMERANG, DASI, and MAXIMA
• Baryon Acoustic Oscillations and the Hubble Constant: Past, Present and Future
• Single-Field Consistency Relations of Large Scale Structure
• DESI 2024 VII: Cosmological Constraints from the Full-Shape Modeling of Clustering Measurements
• Planck intermediate results. LI. Features in the cosmic microwave background temperature power spectrum and shifts in cosmological parameters
• Delensing CMB Polarization with External Datasets
• New physics from the polarised light of the cosmic microwave background
• Analytic approach to the polarization of the cosmic microwave background in flat and open universes
• Phases of New Physics in the CMB
• A First Detection of the Acoustic Oscillation Phase Shift Expected from the Cosmic Neutrino Background
• Axion Dark Matter Detection with CMB Polarization
• CLASS: The Cosmology Large Angular Scale Surveyor
• Cosmic Birefringence from Planck Data Release 4
• Neutrino mass in cosmology: status and prospects
• Tidal Tails Test the Equivalence Principle in the Dark Sector
• Towards a complete treatment of the cosmological recombination problem
• Improved Constraints on Cosmic Birefringence from the WMAP and Planck Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization Data
• Algorithms for bispectra: forecasting, optimal analysis, and simulation
• The quantum mechanics of perfect fluids
• A Guide to Designing Future Ground-based CMB Experiments
• Minimal Warm Inflation
• Direct neutrino-mass measurement based on 259 days of KATRIN data
• Effective Lagrangian and Topological Interactions in Supersolids
• Neutrino physics from precision cosmology
• Searching for Light Relics with Large-Scale Structure
• Galilean Equivalence for Galactic Dark Matter
• Precision Gravity Tests and the Einstein Equivalence Principle
• Bounds on isocurvature perturbations from CMB and LSS data
• Cosmology of axion dark matter
• Reionization optical depth determination from Planck HFI data with ten percent accuracy
• The polarized Gamma-Ray Burst GRB 061122
• Recombinations to the Rydberg States of Hydrogen and Their Effect During the Cosmological Recombination Epoch
• Reionization after JWST: a photon budget crisis?
• Frequency-Dependent Constraints on Cosmic Birefringence from the LFI and HFI Planck Data Release 4
• Phases of New Physics in the BAO Spectrum
• First Constraint on the Neutrino-Induced Phase Shift in the BAO Spectrum
• Cosmology From CMB Lensing and Delensed EE Power Spectra Using 2019-2020 SPT-3G Polarization Data
• Single-Field Consistency Relations of Large Scale Structure. Part II: Resummation and Redshift Space
• Single-Field Consistency Relations of Large Scale Structure. Part III: Test of the Equivalence Principle
• Constraining a spatially dependent rotation of the Cosmic Microwave Background Polarization
• Massive neutrinos and cosmic composition
• Unveiling dark fifth forces with linear cosmology
• Constraints on neutrino mass from Cosmic Microwave Background and Large Scale Structure
• Characterizing the Epoch of Reionization with the small-scale CMB: constraints on the optical depth and physical parameters
• Mitigating the optical depth degeneracy using the kinematic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect with CMB-S4
• Galaxy Satellites and the Weak Equivalence Principle
• Biased Tracers of Two Fluids in the Lagrangian Picture
• Baryonic feedback biases on fundamental physics from lensed CMB power spectra
• Measuring the reionization optical depth without large-scale CMB polarization
• Baryon-CDM isocurvature galaxy bias with IllustrisTNG
• Searching for axion-like time-dependent cosmic birefringence with data from SPT-3G
• Cosmological birefringence constraints from CMB and astrophysical polarization data
• BICEP / Keck XIV: Improved constraints on axion-like polarization oscillations in the cosmic microwave background
• Profile Likelihoods in Cosmology: When, Why and How illustrated with $\Lambda$CDM, Massive Neutrinos and Dark Energy
• Unveiling dark forces with measurements of the Large Scale Structure of the Universe
• Light Fields during Inflation from BOSS and Future Galaxy Surveys
• Avoiding baryonic feedback effects on neutrino mass measurements from CMB lensing
• Constraints on axion-like polarization oscillations in the cosmic microwave background with POLARBEAR
• BICEP / Keck XII: Constraints on axion-like polarization oscillations in the cosmic microwave background
• Positive neutrino masses with DESI DR2 via matter conversion to dark energy
• From 100 kpc to 10 Gpc: Dark Matter self-interactions before and after DESI
• The Phase of the BAO on Observable Scales
• Free-Streaming Neutrinos and Their Phase Shift in Current and Future CMB Power Spectra
• Constraints on ${\tau }_{\mathrm{NL}}$ from Planck temperature and polarization
• Constraints on the Optical Depth to Reionization from Balloon-Borne CMB Measurements
• Coherent Self-Interactions of Dark Matter in the Bullet Cluster
• Cosmic Neutrino Decoupling and its Observable Imprints: Insights from Entropic-Dual Transport

Cited by in corpus (3)

• Dark Energy in the DESI Era: A Brief Review of Evidence, Beyond-$\Lambda$CDM Interpretations, and Tensions
• Impostor Among $\nu$s: Dark Radiation Masquerading as Self-Interacting Neutrinos
• Neutrino mass limits and decaying dark matter: background evolution versus perturbations