Determination of neutrino masses from future observations of CMB B-mode polarization and the growth of structure

TL;DR

This paper forecasts how future CMB B-mode polarization and large-scale structure observations can tightly constrain the total neutrino mass, potentially determining the neutrino mass hierarchy.

Contribution

It provides a detailed estimate of neutrino mass bounds achievable with upcoming CMB and galaxy surveys, highlighting the potential to distinguish the mass hierarchy.

Findings

Estimated neutrino mass error of 0.012 eV at 68% confidence

Future observations can determine the neutrino mass hierarchy

Constraints suggest a normal hierarchy if total mass is 0.06 eV

Abstract

Constraints on neutrino masses are estimated based on future observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) including the B-mode polarization produced by CMB lensing using the Planck satellite, and baryon acoustic oscillations distance scale and the galaxy power spectrum from all-sky galaxy redshift survey in the BigBOSS experiment. We estimate the error in the bound on the total neutrino mass to be $\Delta\sum m_{\nu} = 0.012$ eV with a 68% confidence level. If the fiducial value of the total neutrino mass is $\sum m_{\nu}= 0.06$ eV, this result implies that the neutrino mass hierarchy must be normal.