Neutrino physics from the cosmic microwave background and large scale structure

• Published in: Astroparticle physics Vol. 63; pp. 66 - 80
• Main Authors: Abazajian, K.N., Arnold, K., Austermann, J., Benson, B.A., Bischoff, C., Bock, J., Bond, J.R., Borrill, J., Calabrese, E., Carlstrom, J.E., Carvalho, C.S., Chang, C.L., Chiang, H.C., Church, S., Cooray, A., Crawford, T.M., Dawson, K.S., Das, S., Devlin, M.J., Dobbs, M., Dodelson, S., Doré, O., Dunkley, J., Errard, J., Fraisse, A., Gallicchio, J., Halverson, N.W., Hanany, S., Hildebrandt, S.R., Hincks, A., Hlozek, R., Holder, G., Holzapfel, W.L., Honscheid, K., Hu, W., Hubmayr, J., Irwin, K., Jones, W.C., Kamionkowski, M., Keating, B., Keisler, R., Knox, L., Komatsu, E., Kovac, J., Kuo, C.-L., Lawrence, C., Lee, A.T., Leitch, E., Linder, E., Lubin, P., McMahon, J., Miller, A., Newburgh, L., Niemack, M.D., Nguyen, H., Nguyen, H.T., Page, L., Pryke, C., Reichardt, C.L., Ruhl, J.E., Sehgal, N., Seljak, U., Sievers, J., Silverstein, E., Slosar, A., Smith, K.M., Spergel, D., Staggs, S.T., Stark, A., Stompor, R., Vieregg, A.G., Wang, G., Watson, S., Wollack, E.J., Wu, W.L.K., Yoon, K.W., Zahn, O.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Goddard Space Flight Center Elsevier B.V 15.03.2015; Elsevier
• Subjects: ASTRONOMY AND ASTROPHYSICS; Astrophysics; Cosmic microwave background; Cosmology; Cosmology and Extra-Galactic Astrophysics; Large scale structure; Neutrinos; Physics; PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; Cosmology; Neutrinos; Cosmic microwave background; Large scale structure; Radiation-Dominated Era; Distance-Redshift Relations; High Energy Physics - Phenomenology; Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
• ISSN: 0927-6505; 1873-2852
• DOI: 10.1016/j.astropartphys.2014.05.014

This is a report on the status and prospects of the quantification of neutrino properties through the cosmological neutrino background for the Cosmic Frontier of the Division of Particles and Fields Community Summer Study long-term planning exercise. Experiments planned and underway are prepared to study the cosmological neutrino background in detail via its influence on distance-redshift relations and the growth of structure. The program for the next decade described in this document, including upcoming spectroscopic galaxy surveys eBOSS and DESI and a new Stage-IV CMB polarization experiment CMB-S4, will achieve σ(σmν)=16meV and σ(Neff)=0.020. Such a mass measurement will produce a high significance detection of non-zero σmν, whose lower bound derived from atmospheric and solar neutrino oscillation data is about 58meV. If neutrinos have a minimal normal mass hierarchy, this measurement will definitively rule out the inverted neutrino mass hierarchy, shedding light on one of the most puzzling aspects of the Standard Model of particle physics — the origin of mass. This precise a measurement of Neff will allow for high sensitivity to any light and dark degrees of freedom produced in the big bang and a precision test of the standard cosmological model prediction that Neff=3.046.