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Diamanti, R., Giusarma, E., Mena, O., Archidiacono, M., & Melchiorri, A. (2013). Dark radiation and interacting scenarios. Phys. Rev. D, 87(6), 063509–8pp.
Abstract: An extra dark radiation component can be present in the universe in the form of sterile neutrinos, axions or other very light degrees of freedom which may interact with the dark matter sector. We derive here the cosmological constraints on the dark radiation abundance, on its effective velocity and on its viscosity parameter from current data in dark radiation-dark matter coupled models. The cosmological bounds on the number of extra dark radiation species do not change significantly when considering interacting schemes. We also find that the constraints on the dark radiation effective velocity are degraded by an order of magnitude while the errors on the viscosity parameter are a factor of two larger when considering interacting scenarios. If future Cosmic Microwave Background data are analyzed assuming a noninteracting model but the dark radiation and the dark matter sectors interact in nature, the reconstructed values for the effective velocity and for the viscosity parameter will be shifted from their standard 1/3 expectation, namely c(eff)(2) = 0.34(-0.003)(+0.006) and c(vis)(2) = 0.29(-0.001)(+0.002) at 95% C.L. for the future COrE mission data.
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Archidiacono, M., Giusarma, E., Melchiorri, A., & Mena, O. (2013). Neutrino and dark radiation properties in light of recent CMB observations. Phys. Rev. D, 87(10), 103519–10pp.
Abstract: Recent cosmic microwave background measurements at high multipoles from the South Pole Telescope and from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope seem to disagree in their conclusions for the neutrino and dark radiation properties. In this paper we set new bounds on the dark radiation and neutrino properties in different cosmological scenarios combining the ACT and SPT data with the nine-year data release of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP-9), baryon acoustic oscillation data, Hubble Telescope measurements of the Hubble constant, and supernovae Ia luminosity distance data. In the standard three massive neutrino case, the two high multipole probes give similar results if baryon acoustic oscillation data are removed from the analyses and Hubble Telescope measurements are also exploited. A similar result is obtained within a standard cosmology with N-eff massless neutrinos, although in this case the agreement between these two measurements is also improved when considering simultaneously baryon acoustic oscillation data and Hubble Space Telescope measurements. In the N-eff massive neutrino case the two high multipole probes give very different results regardless of the external data sets used in the combined analyses. When considering extended cosmological scenarios with a dark energy equation of state or with a running of the scalar spectral index, the evidence for neutrino masses found for the South Pole Telescope in the three neutrino scenario disappears for all the data combinations explored here. Again, adding Hubble Telescope data seems to improve the agreement between the two high multipole cosmic microwave background measurements considered here. In the case in which a dark radiation background with unknown clustering properties is also considered, SPT data seem to exclude the standard value for the dark radiation viscosity c(vis)(2) = 1/3 at the 2 sigma C.L., finding evidence for massive neutrinos only when combining SPT data with baryon acoustic oscillation measurements.
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Salvatelli, V., Marchini, A., Lopez-Honorez, L., & Mena, O. (2013). New constraints on coupled dark energy from the Planck satellite experiment. Phys. Rev. D, 88(2), 023531–9pp.
Abstract: We present new constraints on coupled dark energy from the recent measurements of the cosmic microwave background anisotropies from the Planck satellite mission. We found that a coupled dark energy model is fully compatible with the Planck measurements, deriving a weak bound on the dark matter-dark energy coupling parameter xi = -0.49(-0.31)(+0.19) at 68% C.L. Moreover if Planck data are fitted to a coupled dark energy scenario, the constraint on the Hubble constant is relaxed to H-0 = 72.1(-2.3)(+3.2) km/s/Mpc, solving the tension with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) value. We show that a combined PLANCK + HST analysis provides significant evidence for coupled dark energy finding a nonzero value for the coupling parameter xi, with -0.90 < xi < -0.22 at 95% C.L. We also consider the combined constraints from the Planck data plus the baryon acoustic oscillation measurements of the 6dF Galaxy Survey, the Sloan Digital Sky Survey and the Baron Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey.
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Giusarma, E., de Putter, R., Ho, S., & Mena, O. (2013). Constraints on neutrino masses from Planck and Galaxy clustering data. Phys. Rev. D, 88(6), 063515–9pp.
Abstract: We present here bounds on neutrino masses from the combination of recent Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements and galaxy clustering information from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III. We use the full shape of either the photometric angular clustering (Data Release 8) or the 3D spectroscopic clustering (Data Release 9) power spectrum in different cosmological scenarios. In the Lambda CDM scenario, spectroscopic galaxy clustering measurements improve significantly the existing neutrino mass bounds from Planck data. We find Sigma m(v) < 0.39 eV at 95% confidence level for the combination of the 3D power spectrum with Planck CMB data (wi lensing included) and Wilkinson Microwave Anisoptropy Probe 9-year polarization measurements. Therefore, robust neutrino mass constraints can be obtained without the addition of the prior on the Hubble constant from Hubble Space Telescope. In extended cosmological scenarios with a dark energy fluid or with nonflat geometries, galaxy clustering measurements are essential to pin down the neutrino mass bounds, providing in the majority of cases better results than those obtained from the associated measurement of the baryon acoustic oscillation scale only. In the presence of a freely varying (constant) dark energy equation of state, we find Sigma m(v) < 0.49 eV at 95% confidence level for the combination of the 3D power spectrum with Planck CMB data (with lensing included) and Wilkinson Microwave Anisoptropy Probe 9-year polarization measurements. This same data combination in nonflat geometries provides the neutrino mass bound Sigma m(v) < 0.35 eV at 95% confidence level.
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Adey, D. et al, Cervera-Villanueva, A., Donini, A., Ghosh, T., Gomez-Cadenas, J. J., Hernandez, P., et al. (2014). Light sterile neutrino sensitivity at the nuSTORM facility. Phys. Rev. D, 89(7), 071301–7pp.
Abstract: A facility that can deliver beams of electron and muon neutrinos from the decay of a stored muon beam has the potential to unambiguously resolve the issue of the evidence for light sterile neutrinos that arises in short-baseline neutrino oscillation experiments and from estimates of the effective number of neutrino flavors from fits to cosmological data. In this paper, we show that the nuSTORM facility, with stored muons of 3.8 GeV/c +/- 10%, will be able to carry out a conclusive muon neutrino appearance search for sterile neutrinos and test the LSND and MiniBooNE experimental signals with 10 sigma sensitivity, even assuming conservative estimates for the systematic uncertainties. This experiment would add greatly to our knowledge of the contribution of light sterile neutrinos to the number of effective neutrino flavors from the abundance of primordial helium production and from constraints on neutrino energy density from the cosmic microwave background. The appearance search is complemented by a simultaneous muon neutrino disappearance analysis that will facilitate tests of various sterile neutrino models.
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Di Valentino, E., Giusarma, E., Lattanzi, M., Melchiorri, A., & Mena, O. (2014). Axion cold dark matter: Status after Planck and BICEP2. Phys. Rev. D, 90(4), 043534–11pp.
Abstract: We investigate the axion dark matter scenario (ADM), in which axions account for all of the dark matter in the Universe, in light of the most recent cosmological data. In particular, we use the Planck temperature data, complemented by WMAP E-polarization measurements, as well as the recent BICEP2 observations of B-modes. Baryon acoustic oscillation data, including those from the baryon oscillation spectroscopic survey, are also considered in the numerical analyses. We find that, in the minimal ADM scenario and for Delta(QCD) = 200 MeV, the full data set implies that the axion mass m(a) = 82.2 +/- 1.1 μeV [corresponding to the Peccei-Quinn symmetry being broken at a scale f(a) = (7.54 +/- 0.10) x 10(10) GeV], or m(a) = 76.6 +/- 2.6 μeV [f(a) = (8.08 +/- 0.27) x 10(10) GeV] when we allow for a nonstandard effective number of relativistic species N-eff. We also find a 2 sigma preference for N-eff > 3.046. The limit on the sum of neutrino masses is Sigma m(v) < 0.25 eV at 95% C.L. for N-eff = 3.046, or Sigma m(v) < 0.47 eV when N-eff is a free parameter. Considering extended scenarios where either the dark energy equation-of-state parameter w, the tensor spectral index n(t), or the running of the scalar index dn(s)/d ln k is allowed to vary does not change significantly the axion mass-energy density constraints. However, in the case of the full data set exploited here, there is a preference for a nonzero tensor index or scalar running, driven by the different tensor amplitudes implied by the Planck and BICEP2 observations. We also study the effect on our estimates of theoretical uncertainties, in particular the imprecise knowledge of the QCD scale Delta(QCD), in the calculation of the temperature-dependent axion mass. We find that in the simplest ADM scenario the Planck + WP data set implies that the axion mass m(a) = 63.7 +/- 1.2 μeV for Delta(QCD) = 400 MeV. We also comment on the possibility that axions do not make up for all the dark matter, or that the contribution of string-produced axions has been grossly underestimated; in that case, the values that we find for the mass can conservatively be considered as lower limits. Dark matter axions with mass in the 60-80 μeV (corresponding to an axion-photon coupling G(a gamma gamma) similar to 10(-14) GeV-1) range can, in principle, be detected by looking for axion-to-photon conversion occurring inside a tunable microwave cavity permeated by a high-intensity magnetic field, and operating at a frequency nu similar or equal to 15-20 GHz. This is out of the reach of current experiments like the axion dark matter experiment (limited to a maximum frequency of a few GHzs), but is, on the other hand, within the reach of the upcoming axion dark matter experiment-high frequency experiment that will explore the 4-40 GHz frequency range and then be sensitive to axion masses up to similar to 160 μeV.
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Barranco, L., Boubekeur, L., & Mena, O. (2014). Model-independent fit to Planck and BICEP2 data. Phys. Rev. D, 90(6), 063007–7pp.
Abstract: Inflation is the leading theory to describe elegantly the initial conditions that led to structure formation in our Universe. In this paper, we present a novel phenomenological fit to the Planck, WMAP polarization (WP) and the BICEP2 data sets using an alternative parametrization. Instead of starting from inflationary potentials and computing the inflationary observables, we use a phenomenological parametrization due to Mukhanov, describing inflation by an effective equation of state, in terms of the number of e-folds and two phenomenological parameters alpha and beta. Within such a parametrization, which captures the different inflationary models in a model-independent way, the values of the scalar spectral index n(s), its running and the tensor-to-scalar ratio r are predicted, given a set of parameters (alpha, beta). We perform a Markov Chain Monte Carlo analysis of these parameters, and we show that the combined analysis of Planck and WP data favors the Starobinsky and Higgs inflation scenarios. Assuming that the BICEP2 signal is not entirely due to foregrounds, the addition of this last data set prefers instead the phi(2) chaotic models. The constraint we get from Planck and WP data alone on the derived tensor-to-scalar ratio is r < 0.18 at 95% C.L., value which is consistent with the one quoted from the BICEP2 Collaboration analysis, r = 0.16(-0.05)(+0-06), after foreground subtraction. This is not necessarily at odds with the 2 sigma tension found between Planck and BICEP2 measurements when analyzing data in terms of the usual n(s) and r parameters, given that the parametrization used here, for the preferred value n(s) similar or equal to 0.96, allows only for a restricted parameter space in the usual (n(s), r) plane.
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Boubekeur, L., Giusarma, E., Mena, O., & Ramirez, H. (2014). Current status of modified gravity. Phys. Rev. D, 90(10), 103512–10pp.
Abstract: We revisit the cosmological viability of the Hu-Sawicki modified gravity scenario. The impact of such a modification on the different cosmological observables, including gravitational waves, is carefully described. The most recent cosmological data, as well as constraints on the relationship between the clustering parameter sigma(8) and the current matter mass-energy density Omega(m) from cluster number counts and weak lensing tomography, are considered in our numerical calculations. The strongest bound we find is vertical bar f(R0)vertical bar < 3.7 x 10(-6) at 95% C.L. Forthcoming cluster surveys covering 10 000 deg(2) in the sky, with galaxy surface densities of O(10) arcmin(-2) could improve the precision in the sigma(8)-Omega(m) relationship, tightening the above constraint.
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Archidiacono, M., Lopez-Honorez, L., & Mena, O. (2014). Current constraints on early and stressed dark energy models and future 21 cm perspectives. Phys. Rev. D, 90(12), 123016–10pp.
Abstract: Despite the great progress of current cosmological measurements, the nature of the dominant component of the Universe, coined dark energy, is still an open question. Early dark energy is a possible candidate which may also alleviate some fine-tuning issues of the standard paradigm. Using the latest available cosmological data, we find that the 95% C.L. upper bound on the early dark energy density parameter is Tau(eDE) < 0.009. On the other hand, the dark energy component may be a stressed and inhomogeneous fluid. If this is the case, the effective sound speed and the viscosity parameters are unconstrained by current data. Future omniscopelike 21 cm surveys, combined with present cosmic microwave background data, could be able to distinguish between standard quintessence scenarios from other possible models with 2 sigma significance, assuming a non-negligible early dark energy contribution. The precision achieved on the Omega(eDE) parameter from these 21 cm probes could be below O(10%).
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Giusarma, E., Di Valentino, E., Lattanzi, M., Melchiorri, A., & Mena, O. (2014). Relic neutrinos, thermal axions, and cosmology in early 2014. Phys. Rev. D, 90(4), 043507–17pp.
Abstract: We present up-to-date cosmological bounds on the sum of active neutrino masses as well as on extended cosmological scenarios with additional thermal relics, as thermal axions or sterile neutrino species. Our analyses consider all the current available cosmological data in the beginning of year 2014, including the very recent and most precise baryon acoustic oscillation measurements from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. In the minimal three-active-neutrino scenario, we find Sigma m(nu) < 0.22 eV at 95% C.L. from the combination of cosmic microwave background (CMB), baryon acoustic oscillation, and Hubble Space Telescope measurements of the Hubble constant. A nonzero value for the sum of the three active neutrino masses of similar to 0.3 eV is significantly favored at more than three standard deviations when adding the constraints on s 8 and Om from the Planck cluster catalog on galaxy number counts. This preference for nonzero thermal relic masses disappears almost completely in both the thermal axion and massive sterile neutrino schemes. Extra light species contribute to the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, parametrized via N-eff. We found that when the recent detection of B mode polarization from the BICEP2 experiment is considered, an analysis of the combined CMB data in the framework of LCDM + r models gives N-eff = 3.90 +/- 0.42, suggesting the presence of an extra relativistic relic at more than 95% C.L. from CMB-only data.
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