Impact of Massive Neutrinos and Dark Radiation on the High-redshift Cosmic Web. I. Lyα Forest Observables

2017/11/01 by Graziano Rossi · 12 citations
Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Astrophysics and Cosmic Phenomena #Baryon #Cosmology #Cosmology and Gravitation Theories #Dark energy #Dark matter #Dark radiation #Galaxies: Formation, Evolution, Phenomena #Galaxy #Massless particle #Matter power spectrum #Neutrino #Observable #Particle physics #Physics #Quantum mechanics #Redshift #Spectral density #astro-ph.CO

paper · pdf · doi:10.3847/1538-4365/aa93d6

published in The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series 233(1), 12 (Institute of Physics) · ApJS, Volume 233, Issue 1, article id. 12, 23 pp. (2017)

openalex publication_date 2017/11/01 · arxiv created 2017/12/01 · arxiv updated 2017/12/04 · openalex created_date 2017/12/04 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05

Abstract

Abstract With upcoming high-quality data from surveys such as the Extended Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey or the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument, improving the theoretical modeling and gaining a deeper understanding of the effects of neutrinos and dark radiation on structure formation at small scales are necessary, to obtain robust constraints free from systematic biases. Using a novel suite of hydrodynamical simulations that incorporate dark matter, baryons, massive neutrinos, and dark radiation, we present a detailed study of their impact on Ly α forest observables. In particular, we accurately measure the tomographic evolution of the shape and amplitude of the small-scale matter and flux power spectra and search for unique signatures along with preferred scales where a neutrino mass detection may be feasible. We then investigate the thermal state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) through the temperature–density relation. Our findings suggest that at the suppression on the matter power spectrum induced by neutrinos can reach at when compared to a massless neutrino cosmology, and if a massless sterile neutrino is included; surprisingly, we also find good agreement ( ) with some analytic predictions. For the 1D flux power spectrum , the highest response to free-streaming effects is achieved at when this k -limit falls in the Ly α forest regime, making the small-scale an excellent probe for detecting neutrino and dark radiation imprints. Our results indicate that the IGM at provides the best sensitivity to active and sterile neutrinos.

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