Forecasting neutrino masses from galaxy clustering in the Dark Energy Survey combined with the Planck measurements

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Lahav, Ofer

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Forecasting neutrino masses from galaxy clustering in the Dark Energy Survey combined with the Planck measurements

Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/1959.3/86837

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Title: Forecasting neutrino masses from galaxy clustering in the Dark Energy Survey combined with the Planck measurements
Author(s): Lahav, Ofer; Kiakotou, Angeliki; Abdalla, Filipe B.; Blake, Chris
Abstract: We study the prospects for detecting neutrino masses from the galaxy angular power spectrum in photometric redshift shells of the Dark Energy Survey (DES) over a volume of ∼20 h−3 Gpc3, combined with the cosmic microwave background (CMB) angular fluctuations expected to be measured from the Planck satellite. We find that for a Λ cold dark matter concordance model with seven free parameters in addition to a fiducial neutrino mass of Mν= 0.24 eV, we recover from DES and Planck the correct value with uncertainty of ±0.12 eV (95 per cent confidence level; CL), assuming perfect knowledge of the galaxy biasing. If the fiducial total mass is close to zero, then the upper limit is 0.11 eV (95 per cent CL). This upper limit from DES and Planck is over three times tighter than using Planck alone, as DES breaks the parameter degeneracies in a CMB-only analysis. The analysis utlilizes spherical harmonics up to 300, averaged in bin of 10 to mimic the DES sky coverage. The results are similar if we supplement DES bands (grizY) with the Visible and Infra-Red Survey Telescope for Astronomy Hemisphere Survey (VHS) near-infrared band (JHK). The result is robust to uncertainties in non-linear fluctuations and redshift distortions. However, the result is sensitive to the assumed galaxy biasing schemes and it requires accurate prior knowledge of the biasing. To summarize, if the total neutrino mass in nature is greater than 0.1 eV, we should be able to detect it with DES and Planck, a result with great importance to fundamental physics.
Publication type: Journal article
Research centre: Swinburne University of Technology. Faculty of Information and Communication Technologies. Centre for Astrophysics and Supercomputing
Source: Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, Vol. 405, no. 1 (2010), pp. 168-176
Publication year: 2010
FOR Code(s): 0201 Astronomical and Space Sciences
Keyword(s): Cosmological parameters; Large-scale structure of Universe; Surveys
Publisher: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing
ISSN: 0035-8711
Publisher URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-2966.2010.16472.x
Peer reviewed