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Wang, D., & Mena, O. (2024). Robust analysis of the growth of structure. Phys. Rev. D, 109(8), 083539–18pp.
Abstract: Current cosmological tensions show that it is crucial to test the predictions from the canonical ACDM paradigm at different cosmic times. One very appealing test of structure formation in the Universe is the growth rate of structure in our universe f, usually parametrized via the growth index gamma, with f equivalent to Omega(m)(a)gamma and gamma similar or equal to 0.55 in the standard ACDM case. Recent studies have claimed a suppression of the growth of structure from a variety of cosmological observations, characterized by gamma > 0.55. By employing different self-consistent growth parametrizations schemes, we show here that gamma < 0.55, obtaining instead an enhanced growth of structure today. This preference reaches the 3 sigma significance using cosmic microwave background observations, supernova Ia and baryon acoustic oscillation measurements. The addition of cosmic microwave background lensing data relaxes such a preference to the 2 sigma level, since a larger lensing effect can always be compensated with a smaller structure growth, or, equivalently, with gamma > 0.55. We have also included the lensing amplitude AL as a free parameter in our data analysis, showing that the preference for AL > 1 still remains, except for some particular parametrizations when lensing observations are included. We also do not find any significant preference for an oscillatory dependence of AL, AL + Am sin l. To further reassess the effects of a nonstandard growth, we have computed by means of N-body simulations the dark matter density fields, the dark matter halo mass functions and the halo density profiles for different values of gamma. Future observations from the Square Kilometer Array, reducing by a factor of 3 the current errors on the gamma parameter, further confirm or refute with a strong statistical significance the deviation of the growth index from its standard value.
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Wang, D., Mena, O., Di Valentino, E., & Gariazzo, S. (2025). Scale and redshift dependent limits on cosmic neutrino properties. Phys. Rev. D, 112(6), 063555–16pp.
Abstract: Cosmological neutrino mass and abundance measurements are reaching unprecedented precision. Testing their stability versus redshift and scale is a crucial issue, as it can serve as a guide for optimizing ongoing and future searches. Here, we perform such analyses, considering a number of redshift, scale, and redshift-and-scale nodes. Concerning the k-space analysis of P m nu, cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations are crucial, as they lead the neutrino mass constraints. Interestingly, some data combinations suggest a nonzero value for the neutrino mass with 26 significance. The most constraining bound we find is Sigma m(nu ) <0.54 eV at 95% confidence level (CL) in the [10(-3), 10(-2)] h/Mpc k-bin, a limit that barely depends on the data combination. Regarding the redshift-and scale-dependent neutrino mass constraints, high redshifts (z > 100) and scales in the range [10-3, 10(-1)] h/Mpc provide the best constraints. The least constraining bounds are obtained at very low redshifts [0, 0.5] and also at very small scales (k > 0.1 h/Mpc) due to the absence of observations. Highly relevant is the case of the [100, 1100], [10(-2), 10(-1)] h/Mpc redshift-scale bin, where a 2-36 evidence for a nonzero neutrino mass is obtained for all data combinations. The bound from CMB alone at 68% CL is 0.63(-0.24)(+0.20) eV, and the one for the full dataset is 0.56(-0.23)(+0.20) eV, clearly suggesting a nonzero neutrino mass at these scales, possibly related to a deviation of the integrated Sachs-Wolfe amplitude in this redshift range. Concerning the analysis of N(eff )in the k-space, at intermediate scales ranging from k = 10(-3) h/Mpc to k = 10(-1) h/Mpc, accurate CMB data provide very strong bounds, the most robust one being N-eff = 3.09 + 0.14, comparable to the standard expected value without a k-bin analysis. If a nonzero neutrino mass is considered, the bounds on the Neff values at the different k-bins are largely unaffected, and the 95% CL tightest limit we find for the neutrino mass in this case is Sigma m(nu )< 0.205 eV from the full dataset. Finally, the z and k analyses of Neff indicate a high constraining power of cosmological observations at high redshifts and intermediate scales [10(-2), 10(-1)] h/Mpc when extracting the binned values of this parameter.
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Wang, D., Mena, O., Di Valentino, E., & Gariazzo, S. (2024). Updating neutrino mass constraints with background measurements. Phys. Rev. D, 110(10), 103536–8pp.
Abstract: Low-redshift probes, such as baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) and supernovae Ia luminosity distances, have been shown to be crucial for improving the bounds on the total neutrino mass from cosmological observations, due to their ability to break degeneracies among the different parameters. Here, we expand background observations to include H(z) measurements from cosmic chronometers, distance moduli from gamma ray bursts (GRBs), and angular diameter distances from galaxy clusters. For the first time, using the physically motivated assumption of positive neutrino mass, we find that neutrino mass limits could be at 95% CL below the minimal expectations from neutrino oscillation probes, suggesting possible nonstandard neutrino and/or cosmological scenarios. Interestingly, it is not only the combination of the three background probes that is responsible for the Sigma m(v) <0.06 eV limits, but also each of them independently. The tightest bound we find here is Sigma m(v) <0.043 eV at 95% CL after combining cosmic microwave background Planck data with DESI BAO, supernovae Ia, GRBs, cosmic chronometers, and galaxy clusters, showing a clear tension between neutrino oscillation results and cosmological analyses. In general, removing each one of three background probes still provides a limit Sigma m(v) less than or similar to 0.06 eV, reassuring the enormous potential of these low-redshift observations in constraining the neutrino mass.
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Witte, S., Villanueva-Domingo, P., Gariazzo, S., Mena, O., & Palomares-Ruiz, S. (2018). EDGES result versus CMB and low-redshift constraints on ionization histories. Phys. Rev. D, 97(10), 103533–8pp.
Abstract: We examine the results from the Experiment to Detect the Global Epoch of Reionization Signature (EDGES), which has recently claimed the detection of a strong absorption in the 21 cm hyperfine transition line of neutral hydrogen, at redshifts demarcating the early stages of star formation. More concretely, we study the compatibility of the shape of the EDGES absorption profile, centered at a redshift of z similar to 17.2, with measurements of the reionization optical depth, the Gunn-Peterson optical depth, and Lyman-alpha emission from star-forming galaxies, for a variety of possible reionization models within the standard ACDM framework (that is, a Universe with a cosmological constant. and cold dark matter CDM). When, conservatively, we only try to accommodate the location of the absorption dip, we identify a region in the parameter space of the astrophysical parameters that successfully explains all of the aforementioned observations. However, one of the most abnormal features of the EDGES measurement is the absorption amplitude, which is roughly a factor of 2 larger than the maximum allowed value in the ACDM framework. We point out that the simple considered astrophysical models that produce the largest absorption amplitudes are unable to explain the depth of the dip and of reproducing the observed shape of the absorption profile.
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Wurm, M. et al, & Mena, O. (2012). The next-generation liquid-scintillator neutrino observatory LENA. Astropart Phys., 35(11), 685–732.
Abstract: As part of the European LAGUNA design study on a next-generation neutrino detector, we propose the liquid-scintillator detector LENA (Low Energy Neutrino Astronomy) as a multipurpose neutrino observatory. The outstanding successes of the Borexino and KamLAND experiments demonstrate the large potential of liquid-scintillator detectors in low-energy neutrino physics. Low energy threshold, good energy resolution and efficient background discrimination are inherent to the liquid-scintillator technique. A target mass of 50 kt will offer a substantial increase in detection sensitivity. At low energies, the variety of detection channels available in liquid scintillator will allow for an energy and flavor-resolved analysis of the neutrino burst emitted by a galactic Supernova. Due to target mass and background conditions, LENA will also be sensitive to the faint signal of the Diffuse Supernova Neutrino Background. Solar metallicity, time-variation in the solar neutrino flux and deviations from MSW-LMA survival probabilities can be investigated based on unprecedented statistics. Low background conditions allow to search for dark matter by observing rare annihilation neutrinos. The large number of events expected for geoneutrinos will give valuable information on the abundances of Uranium and Thorium and their relative ratio in the Earth's crust and mantle. Reactor neutrinos enable a high-precision measurement of solar mixing parameters. A strong radioactive or pion decay-at-rest neutrino source can be placed close to the detector to investigate neutrino oscillations for short distances and sub-MeV to MeV energies. At high energies, LENA will provide a new lifetime limit for the SUSY-favored proton decay mode into kaon and antineutrino, surpassing current experimental limits by about one order of magnitude. Recent studies have demonstrated that a reconstruction of momentum and energy of GeV particles is well feasible in liquid scintillator. Monte Carlo studies on the reconstruction of the complex event topologies found for neutrino interactions at multi-GeV energies have shown promising results. If this is confirmed. LENA might serve as far detector in a long-baseline neutrino oscillation experiment currently investigated in LAGUNA-LBNO.
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Yang, W. Q., Di Valentino, E., Mena, O., & Pan, S. (2020). Dynamical dark sectors and neutrino masses and abundances. Phys. Rev. D, 102(2), 023535–17pp.
Abstract: We investigate generalized interacting dark matter-dark energy scenarios with a time-dependent coupling parameter, allowing also for freedom in the neutrino sector. The models are tested in the phantom and quintessence regimes, characterized by equations of state, w(x) < -1 and w(x) > -1, respectively. Our analyses show that for some of the scenarios, the existing tensions on the Hubble constant H-0 and on the clustering parameter S-8 can be significantly alleviated. The relief is either due to (a) a dark energy component which lies within the phantom region or (b) the presence of a dynamical coupling in quintessence scenarios. The inclusion of massive neutrinos into the interaction schemes does not affect either the constraints on the cosmological parameters or the bounds on the total number or relativistic degrees of freedom N-eff, which are found to be extremely robust and, in general, strongly consistent with the canonical prediction N-eff = 3.045. The most stringent bound on the total neutrino mass M-nu is M-nu, < 0.116 eV and it is obtained within a quintessence scenario in which the matter mass-energy density is only mildly affected by the presence of a dynamical dark sector coupling.
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Yang, W. Q., Di Valentino, E., Mena, O., Pan, S., & Nunes, R. C. (2020). All-inclusive interacting dark sector cosmologies. Phys. Rev. D, 101(8), 083509–15pp.
Abstract: In this paper we explore possible extensions of interacting dark energy cosmologies, where dark energy and dark matter interact nongravitationally with one another. In particular, we focus on the neutrino sector, analyzing the effect of both neutrino masses and the effective number of neutrino species. We consider the Planck 2018 legacy release data combined with several other cosmological probes, finding no evidence for new physics in the dark radiation sector. The current neutrino constraints from cosmology should therefore be regarded as robust, as they are not strongly dependent on the dark sector physics, once all the available observations are combined. Namely, we find a total neutrino mass g, < 0.15 eV and a number of effective relativistic degrees of freedom N-eff = 3.03(-0.33)(+0.33), both at 95% C.L., which are close to those obtained within the ACDM cosmology, M-v < 0.12 eV and N-eff = (+0.36)(-0.35), for the same data combination.
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Yang, W. Q., Di Valentino, E., Pan, S., & Mena, O. (2021). Emergent Dark Energy, neutrinos and cosmological tensions. Phys. Dark Universe, 31, 100762–9pp.
Abstract: The Phenomenologically Emergent Dark Energy model, a dark energy model with the same number of free parameters as the flat Lambda CDM, has been proposed as a working example of a minimal model which can avoid the current cosmological tensions. A straightforward question is whether or not the inclusion of massive neutrinos and extra relativistic species may spoil such an appealing phenomenological alternative. We present the bounds on M-nu and N-eff and comment on the long standing H-0 and sigma(8) tensions within this cosmological framework with a wealth of cosmological observations. Interestingly, we find, at 95% confidence level, and with the most complete set of cosmological observations, M-nu similar to 0.21(-0.14)(+0.15) eV and N-eff = 3.03 +/- 0.32 i.e. an indication for a non-zero neutrino mass with a significance above 2 sigma. The well known Hubble constant tension is considerably easened, with a significance always below the 2 sigma level. (C) 2020 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.
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Yang, W. Q., Mena, O., Pan, S., & Di Valentino, E. (2019). Dark sectors with dynamical coupling. Phys. Rev. D, 100(8), 083509–11pp.
Abstract: Coupled dark matter-dark energy scenarios arc modeled via a dimensionless parameter xi, which controls the strength of their interaction. While this coupling is commonly assumed to be constant, there is no underlying physical law or symmetry that forbids a time-dependent xi parameter. The most general and complete interacting scenarios between the two dark sectors should therefore allow for such a possibility, and it is the main purpose of this study to constrain two possible and well-motivated coupled cosmologies by means of the most recent and accurate early- and late-time universe observations. We find that CMB data alone prefer xi(z) > 0 and therefore a smaller amount of dark matter, alleviating some crucial and well-known cosmological data tensions. An objective assessment of the Bayesian evidence for the coupled models explored here shows no particular preference for the presence of a dynamical dark sector coupling.
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Yang, W. Q., Pan, S., Di Valentino, E., Mena, O., & Melchiorri, A. (2021). 2021-H-0 odyssey: closed, phantom and interacting dark energy cosmologies. J. Cosmol. Astropart. Phys., 10(10), 008–21pp.
Abstract: Up-to-date cosmological data analyses have shown that (sigma) a closed universe is preferred by the Planck data at more than 99% CL, and (b) interacting scenarios offer a very compelling solution to the Hubble constant tension. In light of these two recent appealing scenarios, we consider here an interacting dark matter-dark energy model with a non-zero spatial curvature component and a freely varying dark energy equation of state in both the quintessential and phantom regimes. When considering Cosmic Microwave Background data only, a phantom and closed universe can perfectly alleviate the Hubble tension, without the necessity of a coupling among the dark sectors. Accounting for other possible cosmological observations compromises the viability of this very attractive scenario as a global solution to current cosmological tensions, either by spoiling its effectiveness concerning the H-0 problem, as in the case of Supernovae Ia data, or by introducing a strong disagreement in the preferred value of the spatial curvature, as in the case of Baryon Acoustic Oscillations.
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