Abstract Details
| Name: Anjan Sarkar Affiliation: National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (NCRA) - TIFR Conference ID: ASI2024_809 Title : Measuring neutrino mass with Lyman-α forest observations Authors and Co-Authors : Anjan Kumar sarkar, Shiv K. Sethi Abstract Type : Poster Abstract Category : Galaxies and Cosmology Abstract : Neutrinos are light particles (masses ∼ 0.1 eV or less), constituting only a fraction (∼ 2.8%) of the total energy budget of the universe. Although the physical existence of the neutrino has been confirmed by particle physics experiments long ago, the mass of the neutrinos remains uncertain till date; Measurement of the neutrino mass m ν < 0.1 eV is only possible at 2 − σconfidence interval. Neutrinos suppress the matter power spectrum at small scales (at larger k). Lyman-α forest is believed to be a potent and powerful probe of the matter power at small scales (k > 5h Mpc −1 ). Observations of the Lyman-α forest, therefore, can be used to measure the mass of the neutrino at a high level of precision. Using a noise less estimator for the 2-point correlation function of the observed flux contrast δ F , Fisher matrix technique has been used to do estimates of the SNR (Signal-to-Noise Ratio) for measuring the neutrino mass. We find that it is possible to measure the neutrino mass m ν = 0.1 eV at SNR ∼ 4 ( at ∼ 4 − σ confidence interval) with Lyman-α observations carried out in 100 quasar sightlines, considering priors on the cosmological parameters (available from PLANCK observations) and that on the Lyman-α parameters (available from the combined PLANCK and Lyman-α data). |