Probing nonstandard neutrino cosmology with terrestrial neutrino experiments

TL;DR

This paper investigates how terrestrial neutrino experiments and cosmological observations can be reconciled within a model involving mass-varying neutrinos, addressing discrepancies and exploring implications for neutrino physics.

Contribution

It extends previous models of mass-varying neutrinos to include neutrino clumping and additional mass contributions, aiming to reconcile laboratory and cosmological neutrino results.

Findings

Potential reconciliation of eV sterile neutrinos with cosmology.

Insights into neutrino mass variations and their astrophysical implications.

Framework for testing neutrino physics beyond the Standard Model.

Abstract

Neutrino masses and the number of light neutrino species can be tested in a variety of laboratory experiments and also can be constrained by particle astrophysics and precision cosmology. A conflict between these various results could be an indication of new physics in the neutrino sector. In this paper we explore the possibility for reconciliation of otherwise discrepant results in a simple model containing a light scalar field which produces Mass Varying Neutrinos (MaVaNs). We extend previous work on MaVaNs to consider issues of neutrino clumping, the effects of additional contributions to neutrino mass, and reconciliation of eV mass sterile neutrinos with cosmology.