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Title: First constraint on the neutrino-induced phase shift in the spectrum of baryon acoustic oscillations

Abstract

The existence of the cosmic neutrino background is a fascinating prediction of the hot big bang model. These neutrinos were a dominant component of the energy density in the early universe and, therefore, played an important role in the evolution of cosmological perturbations. In particular, fluctuations in the neutrino density produced a distinct shift in the temporal phase of sound waves in the primordial plasma, which has recently been detected in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In this paper, we report on the first measurement of this neutrino-induced phase shift in the spectrum of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) of the BOSS DR12 data. Constraining the acoustic scale using Planck data, and marginalizing over the effects of neutrinos in the CMB, we find evidence for a non-zero phase shift at greater than 95% confidence. We also demonstrate the robustness of this result in simulations and forecasts. Besides being a new measurement of the cosmic neutrino background, our work is the first application of the BAO signal to early universe physics and a non-trivial confirmation of the standard cosmological history.

Authors:
 [1]; ORCiD logo [2]; ORCiD logo [3]; ORCiD logo [3];  [4];  [5]; ORCiD logo [6];  [7]
  1. Univ. of Amsterdam (Netherlands)
  2. Univ. of Portsmouth (United Kingdom); Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States)
  3. Univ. of California, San Diego, CA (United States)
  4. Brookhaven National Lab. (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
  5. Univ. Nacional Autonoma de Mexico (UNAM), Mexico City (Mexico)
  6. Univ. of Amsterdam (Netherlands); Univ. of Cambridge (United Kingdom)
  7. Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. (LBNL), Berkeley, CA (United States); Univ. Paris-Saclay, Gif-sur-Yvette (France)
Publication Date:
Research Org.:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Org.:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), High Energy Physics (HEP)
OSTI Identifier:
1524542
Report Number(s):
BNL-211734-2019-JAAM
Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473
Grant/Contract Number:  
SC0012704
Resource Type:
Accepted Manuscript
Journal Name:
Nature Physics
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 15; Journal Issue: 5; Journal ID: ISSN 1745-2473
Publisher:
Nature Publishing Group (NPG)
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
72 PHYSICS OF ELEMENTARY PARTICLES AND FIELDS; baryons; neutrino; oscillations; constraint; BAO; CMB

Citation Formats

Baumann, Daniel, Beutler, Florian, Flauger, Raphael, Green, Daniel, Slosar, Anže, Vargas-Magaña, Mariana, Wallisch, Benjamin, and Yèche, Christophe. First constraint on the neutrino-induced phase shift in the spectrum of baryon acoustic oscillations. United States: N. p., 2019. Web. doi:10.1038/s41567-019-0435-6.
Baumann, Daniel, Beutler, Florian, Flauger, Raphael, Green, Daniel, Slosar, Anže, Vargas-Magaña, Mariana, Wallisch, Benjamin, & Yèche, Christophe. First constraint on the neutrino-induced phase shift in the spectrum of baryon acoustic oscillations. United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0435-6
Baumann, Daniel, Beutler, Florian, Flauger, Raphael, Green, Daniel, Slosar, Anže, Vargas-Magaña, Mariana, Wallisch, Benjamin, and Yèche, Christophe. Mon . "First constraint on the neutrino-induced phase shift in the spectrum of baryon acoustic oscillations". United States. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41567-019-0435-6. https://www.osti.gov/servlets/purl/1524542.
@article{osti_1524542,
title = {First constraint on the neutrino-induced phase shift in the spectrum of baryon acoustic oscillations},
author = {Baumann, Daniel and Beutler, Florian and Flauger, Raphael and Green, Daniel and Slosar, Anže and Vargas-Magaña, Mariana and Wallisch, Benjamin and Yèche, Christophe},
abstractNote = {The existence of the cosmic neutrino background is a fascinating prediction of the hot big bang model. These neutrinos were a dominant component of the energy density in the early universe and, therefore, played an important role in the evolution of cosmological perturbations. In particular, fluctuations in the neutrino density produced a distinct shift in the temporal phase of sound waves in the primordial plasma, which has recently been detected in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). In this paper, we report on the first measurement of this neutrino-induced phase shift in the spectrum of baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) of the BOSS DR12 data. Constraining the acoustic scale using Planck data, and marginalizing over the effects of neutrinos in the CMB, we find evidence for a non-zero phase shift at greater than 95% confidence. We also demonstrate the robustness of this result in simulations and forecasts. Besides being a new measurement of the cosmic neutrino background, our work is the first application of the BAO signal to early universe physics and a non-trivial confirmation of the standard cosmological history.},
doi = {10.1038/s41567-019-0435-6},
journal = {Nature Physics},
number = 5,
volume = 15,
place = {United States},
year = {Mon Feb 25 00:00:00 EST 2019},
month = {Mon Feb 25 00:00:00 EST 2019}
}

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