The neutrino mass bound from WMAP 3 year data, the baryon acoustic peak, the SNLS supernovae and the Lyman-α forest
Abstract
We have studied bounds on the neutrino mass using new data from the WMAP 3 year data, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey measurement of the baryon acoustic (BAO) peak, the Type Ia supernovae from SNLS, and the Lyman-α forest. We find that even in the most general models with a running spectral index where the number of neutrinos and the dark energy equation of state are allowed to vary, the 95% confidence limit (C.L.) bound on the sum of neutrino masses is \sum m_\nu \leq
0.62 eV (95% C.L.), a bound which we believe to be robust. In the more often used constrained analysis with Nν = 3, w = -1, and αs = 0, we find a bound of 0.48 eV without using the Lyman-α data. If the Lyman-α data are used, the bound shrinks to \sum m_\nu \leq 0.2\mbox {--}0.4 eV (95% C.L.), depending strongly on the Lyman-α analysis used. Finally, we have also calculated how the effective A-parameter used in the SDSS BAO analyses changes under the influence of a non-zero neutrino mass. We find that A = 0.469(n/0.98)-0.35(1+0.94Ων/Ωm) ± 0.017.
- Publication:
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Journal of Cosmology and Astroparticle Physics
- Pub Date:
- June 2006
- DOI:
- arXiv:
- arXiv:astro-ph/0602155
- Bibcode:
- 2006JCAP...06..019G
- Keywords:
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- Astrophysics;
- High Energy Physics - Phenomenology
- E-Print:
- 13 pages, 3 figures, matches version to appear in JCAP. The paper now includes an analysis with the WMAP-3 data. It also includes an improved analysis of the SDSS Baryon Acoustic Oscillation data, providing a new analytic fitting formula for the inclusion of non-zero neutrino masses in the BAO data analysis