Colloquium on Oct. 22, 2020

Neutrino mass constraints beyond linear order: cosmology dependence and systematic biases

Speaker: Aoife Boyle (IAP)

Venue: Video Conference

Time: 15:00 PM, Thursday, Oct. 22, 2020

Abstract:

The promise of improved constraints on the sum of neutrino masses is one driving force behind the next generation of large-scale structure surveys and CMB experiments. However, as we have shown in previous work, such constraints are strongly dependent on the assumed underlying cosmology (such as zero curvature and a fixed dark energy equation of state). In our most recent work, we have explored how forecasted neutrino mass constraints change on moving from the assumption of linear to next-to-leading order galaxy and CMB lensing power spectra and the associated systematic biases. In this talk, I will discuss the various ways in which massive neutrinos affect cosmological observables, the important degeneracies between the neutrino mass and other cosmological parameters, and how more reliable but conservative cosmology-independent constraints on the neutrino mass could theoretically be extracted in future.

Report PPT:  SWIFAR_Aoife Boyle.pdf