Unveiling Neutrino Halos with CMB Lensing

TL;DR

This paper explores the potential to detect neutrino halos formed around dark matter structures via weak gravitational lensing of the CMB, offering a new way to observe cosmic neutrinos beyond linear theory.

Contribution

It proposes a novel method to detect neutrino halos through CMB lensing, advancing beyond previous linear-theory constraints.

Findings

Neutrino halos form around dark matter halos due to non-linear evolution.

Weak lensing of the CMB could reveal signatures of these neutrino halos.

Potential for future observations to detect cosmic neutrinos beyond current methods.

Abstract

The existence of a cosmic neutrino background has been inferred indirectly from cosmological surveys through its effect on the linear-theory evolution of primordial density perturbations, as well as from measurements of the primordial abundances of light elements. Constraints on the masses of the three neutrino species imply that at least two of them move non-relativistically today. As a consequence, non-linear evolution of density perturbations results in the formation of neutrino halos around dark-matter halos. We study whether these neutrino halos can be detected in the foreseeable future through measurements of weak gravitational lensing of the cosmic microwave background, thus providing, possibly, the first beyond-linear-theory signature of cosmic neutrinos.