Constraints on the neutrino mass and mass hierarchy from cosmological observations

TL;DR

This paper uses cosmological data, including BAO and CMB measurements, to set upper limits on the sum of neutrino masses and explore neutrino hierarchy preferences, finding the normal hierarchy slightly favored.

Contribution

It provides updated constraints on neutrino mass sum and hierarchy using combined cosmological observations, including recent BAO data and Planck 2015 results.

Findings

95% C.L. upper bounds: NH < 0.18 eV, IH < 0.20 eV, DH < 0.15 eV

Normal hierarchy slightly preferred over inverted hierarchy (Δχ² ≈ -3.4)

Additional relativistic degrees of freedom and sterile neutrinos not favored

Abstract

Considering the mass splitting between three active neutrinos, we represent the new constraints on the sum of neutrino mass $\sum m_\nu$ by updating the anisotropic analysis of Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) scale in the CMASS and LOWZ galaxy samples from Data Release 12 of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey (BOSS DR12). Combining the BAO data of 6dFGS, MGS, LOWZ and CMASS with $\textit{Planck}$~2015 data of temperature anisotropy and polarizations of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB), we find that the $95\%$ C.L. upper bounds on $\sum m_\nu$ refer to $\sum m_{\nu,\rm NH}<0.18$ eV for normal hierarchy (NH), $\sum m_{\nu,\rm IH}<0.20$ eV for inverted hierarchy (IH) and $\sum m_{\nu,\rm DH}<0.15$ eV for degenerate hierarchy (DH) respectively, and the normal hierarchy is slightly preferred than the inverted one ($\Delta \chi^2\equiv \chi^2_{\rm NH}-\chi^2_{\rm IH} \simeq -3.4$). In addition, the additional relativistic degrees of freedom and massive sterile neutrinos are neither favored at present.