Abstract: We present an updated global fit of neutrino oscillation data in the simplest three-neutrino framework. In the present study we include up-to-date analyses from a number of experiments. Concerning the atmospheric and solar sectors, besides the data considered previously, we give updated analyses of IceCube DeepCore and Sudbury Neutrino Observatory data, respectively. We have also included the latest electron antineutrino data collected by the Daya Bay and RENO reactor experiments, and the long-baseline T2K and NO nu A measurements, as reported in the Neutrino 2020 conference. All in all, these new analyses result in more accurate measurements of theta (13), theta (12), Delta m212 and Delta m312. The best fit value for the atmospheric angle theta (23) lies in the second octant, but first octant solutions remain allowed at similar to 2.4 sigma. Regarding CP violation measurements, the preferred value of delta we obtain is 1.08 pi (1.58 pi) for normal (inverted) neutrino mass ordering. The global analysis still prefers normal neutrino mass ordering with 2.5 sigma statistical significance. This preference is milder than the one found in previous global analyses. These new results should be regarded as robust due to the agreement found between our Bayesian and frequentist approaches. Taking into account only oscillation data, there is a weak/moderate preference for the normal neutrino mass ordering of 2.00 sigma. While adding neutrinoless double beta decay from the latest Gerda, CUORE and KamLAND-Zen results barely modifies this picture, cosmological measurements raise the preference to 2.68 sigma within a conservative approach. A more aggressive data set combination of cosmological observations leads to a similar preference for normal with respect to inverted mass ordering, namely 2.70 sigma. This very same cosmological data set provides 2 sigma upper limits on the total neutrino mass corresponding to Sigma m(nu)< 0.12 (0.15) eV in the normal (inverted) neutrino mass ordering scenario. The bounds on the neutrino mixing parameters and masses presented in this up-to-date global fit analysis include all currently available neutrino physics inputs.

Abstract: We present a full Bayesian analysis of the combination of current neutrino oscillation, neutrinoless double beta decay and Cosmic Microwave Background observations. Our major goal is to carefully investigate the possibility to single out one neutrino mass ordering, namely Normal Ordering or Inverted Ordering, with current data. Two possible parametrizations (three neutrino masses versus the lightest neutrino mass plus the two oscillation mass splittings) and priors (linear versus logarithmic) are exhaustively examined. We find that the preference for NO is only driven by neutrino oscillation data. Moreover, the values of the Bayes factor indicate that the evidence for NO is strong only when the scan is performed over the three neutrino masses with logarithmic priors; for every other combination of parameterization and prior, the preference for NO is only weak. As a by-product of our Bayesian analyses, we are able to (a) compare the Bayesian bounds on the neutrino mixing parameters to those obtained by means of frequentist approaches, finding a very good agreement; (b) determine that the lightest neutrino mass plus the two mass splittings parametrization, motivated by the physical observables, is strongly preferred over the three neutrino mass eigenstates scan and (c) find that logarithmic priors guarantee a weakly-to-moderately more efficient sampling of the parameter space. These results establish the optimal strategy to successfully explore the neutrino parameter space, based on the use of the oscillation mass splittings and a logarithmic prior on the lightest neutrino mass, when combining neutrino oscillation data with cosmology and neutrinoless double beta decay. We also show that the limits on the total neutrino mass Sigma m(nu) can change dramatically when moving from one prior to the other. These results have profound implications for future studies on the neutrino mass ordering, as they crucially state the need for self-consistent analyses which explore the best parametrization and priors, without combining results that involve different assumptions.

Abstract: A deep understanding of the epoch of reionization is still missing in our knowledge of the universe. While future probes will allow us to test the precise evolution of the free electron fraction from redshifts between z similar or equal to 6 and z similar or equal to 20, at present one could ask what kind of reionization processes are allowed by present cosmic microwave background temperature and polarization measurements. An early contribution to reionization could imply a departure from the standard picture where star formation determines the reionization onset. By considering a broad class of possible reionization parameterizations, we find that current data do not require an early reionization component in our universe and that only one marginal class of models, based on a particular realization of reionization, may point to that. In addition, the frequentist Akaike information criterion (AIC) provides strong evidence against alternative reionization histories, favoring the most simple reionization scenario, which describes reionization by means of only one (constant) reionization optical depth tau.

Abstract: The ordering of the neutrino masses is a crucial input for a deep understanding of flavor physics, and its determination may provide the key to establish the relationship among the lepton masses and mixings and their analogous properties in the quark sector. The extraction of the neutrino mass ordering is a data-driven field expected to evolve very rapidly in the next decade. In this review, we both analyse the present status and describe the physics of subsequent prospects. Firstly, the different current available tools to measure the neutrino mass ordering are described. Namely, reactor, long-baseline (accelerator and atmospheric) neutrino beams, laboratory searches for beta and neutrinoless double beta decays and observations of the cosmic background radiation and the large scale structure of the universe are carefully reviewed. Secondly, the results from an up-to-date comprehensive global fit are reported: the Bayesian analysis to the 2018 publicly available oscillation and cosmological data sets provides strong evidence for the normal neutrino mass ordering vs. the inverted scenario, with a significance of 3.5 standard deviations. This preference for the normal neutrino mass ordering is mostly due to neutrino oscillation measurements. Finally, we shall also emphasize the future perspectives for unveiling the neutrinomass ordering. In this regard, apart from describing the expectations from the aforementioned probes, we also focus on those arising from alternative and novel methods, as 21 cm cosmology, core-collapse supernova neutrinos and the direct detection of relic neutrinos.

Abstract: We present the results of an updated fit of short-baseline neutrino oscillation data in the framework of 3+1 active-sterile neutrino mixing. We first consider v(e) and (v) over bar (e) disappearance in the light of the Gallium and reactor anomalies. We discuss the implications of the recent measurement of the reactor (v) over bar (e) spectrum in the NEOS experiment, which shifts the allowed regions of the parameter space towards smaller values of |U-e1|(2). The beta-decay constraints of the Mainz and Troitsk experiments allow us to limit the oscillation length between about 2 cm and 7 m at 3 sigma for neutrinos with an energy of 1 MeV. The corresponding oscillations can be discovered in a model-independent way in ongoing reactor and source experiments by measuring v(e) and (v) over bar (e), disappearance as a function of distance. We then consider the global fit of the data on short-baseline v(mu)((-)) -> v(e)((-)) transitions in the light of the LSND anomaly, taking into account the constraints from v(e)(( )) and v(mu)((-)) disappearance experiments, including the recent data of the MINOS and IceCube experiments. The combination of the NEOS constraints on |U-e4|(2) and the MINOS and IceCube constraints on |U-mu 4|(2) lead to an unacceptable appearance-disappearance tension which becomes tolerable only in a pragmatic fit which neglects the MiniBooNE low-energy anomaly. The minimization of the global chi(2) in the space of the four mixing parameters Delta m(41)(2), |U-e4|(2), |U-mu 4|(2) and |U-4 tau|(2) leads to three allowed regions with narrow Delta m(41)(2) widths at Delta m(41)(2) approximate to 1.7 (best-fit), 1.3 (at 2 sigma), 2.4 (at 3 sigma) eV(2). The effective amplitude of short-baseline v(mu)((-)) -> v(e)((-)) oscillations is limited by 0.00048 less than or similar to sin(2) 2 nu(e mu) less than or similar to 0.0020 at 3 sigma The restrictions of the allowed regions of the mixing parameters with respect to our previous global fits are mainly due to the NEOS constraints. We present a comparison of the allowed regions of the mixing parameters with the sensitivities of ongoing experiments, which show that it is likely that these experiments will determine in a definitive way if the reactor, Gallium and LSND anomalies are due to active-sterile neutrino oscillations or not.