Probing the interaction between dark matter and dark energy in the presence of massive neutrinos

TL;DR

This paper investigates the interaction between dark matter and dark energy considering massive neutrinos, using recent cosmological data to constrain models and explore implications for the Hubble tension.

Contribution

It introduces and constrains three dark sector interaction scenarios with massive neutrinos, highlighting the role of sterile neutrinos in detecting dark sector coupling.

Findings

Coupling parameter is non-zero at 2σ confidence with sterile neutrinos.

Sterile neutrino models can alleviate the Hubble tension.

No evidence for dark sector coupling without sterile neutrinos.

Abstract

We consider the possibility of an interaction in the dark sector in the presence of massive neutrinos, and study the observational constraints on three different scenarios of massive neutrinos using the most recent CMB anisotropy data in combination with type Ia supernovae, baryon acoustic oscillations, and Hubble parameter measurements. When a sterile neutrino is introduced in the interacting dark sector scenario in addition to the standard model prediction of neutrinos, we find that the coupling parameter, characterizing the interaction between dark matter and dark energy, is non-zero at 2$\sigma$ confidence level. The interaction model with sterile neutrino is also found to be a promising one to alleviate the current tension on Hubble constant. We do not find the evidence for a coupling in the dark sector when the possibility of a sterile neutrino is discarded.