arXiv subjects

Sergio Pastor

Publications and source records attributed to Sergio Pastor.

At least 37 records · Page 2Linked to original sources

arXiv2006

Effects of non-standard neutrino-electron interactions on relic neutrino decoupling

We consider the decoupling of neutrinos in the early Universe in presence of non-standard neutral current neutrino-electron interactions (NSI). We first discuss a semi-analytical approach to solve the relevant kinetic equations and then present the results of fully numerical and momentum-dependent calculations, including flavor neutrino oscillations. We present our results in terms of both the effective number of neutrino species (N_eff) and the impact on the abundance of He-4 produced during Big Bang Nucleosynthesis. We find that, for NSI parameters within the ranges allowed by present laboratory data, non-standard neutrino-electron interactions do not essentially modify the density of relic neutrinos nor the bounds on neutrino properties from cosmological observables, such as their mass. Nonetheless, the presence of neutrino-electron NSI may enhance the entropy transfer from electron-positron pairs into neutrinos instead of photons, up to a value of N_eff=3.12. This is almost three times the correction to N_eff=3 that appears for standard weak interactions.

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arXiv2006

Massive neutrinos and cosmology

The present experimental results on neutrino flavour oscillations provide evidence for non-zero neutrino masses, but give no hint on their absolute mass scale, which is the target of beta decay and neutrinoless double-beta decay experiments. Crucial complementary information on neutrino masses can be obtained from the analysis of data on cosmological observables, such as the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background or the distribution of large-scale structure. In this review we describe in detail how free-streaming massive neutrinos affect the evolution of cosmological perturbations. We summarize the current bounds on the sum of neutrino masses that can be derived from various combinations of cosmological data, including the most recent analysis by the WMAP team. We also discuss how future cosmological experiments are expected to be sensitive to neutrino masses well into the sub-eV range.

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arXiv2006

Probing neutrino masses with CMB lensing extraction

We evaluate the ability of future cosmic microwave background (CMB) experiments to measure the power spectrum of large scale structure using quadratic estimators of the weak lensing deflection field. We calculate the sensitivity of upcoming CMB experiments such as BICEP, QUaD, BRAIN, ClOVER and PLANCK to the non-zero total neutrino mass M_nu indicated by current neutrino oscillation data. We find that these experiments greatly benefit from lensing extraction techniques, improving their one-sigma sensitivity to M_nu by a factor of order four. The combination of data from PLANCK and the SAMPAN mini-satellite project would lead to sigma(M_nu) = 0.1 eV, while a value as small as sigma(M_nu) = 0.035 eV is within the reach of a space mission based on bolometers with a passively cooled 3-4 m aperture telescope, representative of the most ambitious projects currently under investigation. We show that our results are robust not only considering possible difficulties in subtracting astrophysical foregrounds from the primary CMB signal but also when the minimal cosmological model (Lambda Mixed Dark Matter) is generalized in order to include a possible scalar tilt running, a constant equation of state parameter for the dark energy and/or extra relativistic degrees of freedom.

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arXiv2006

The aperture for UHE tau neutrinos of the Auger fluorescence detector using a Digital Elevation Map

We perform a new study of the chances of the fluorescence detector (FD) at the Pierre Auger Observatory to detect the tau leptons produced by Earth-skimming ultra high energy tau neutrinos. We present a new and more detailed evaluation of the effective aperture of the FD that considers a reliable fiducial volume for the experimental set up. In addition, we take into account the real elevation profile of the area near Auger. We find a significant increase in the number of expected events with respect to the predictions of a previous semi-analytical determination, and our results show the enhancement effect for neutrino detection from the presence of the near mountains.

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arXiv2005

Relic neutrino decoupling including flavour oscillations

In the early universe, neutrinos are slightly coupled when electron-positron pairs annihilate transferring their entropy to photons. This process originates non-thermal distortions on the neutrino spectra which depend on neutrino flavour, larger for nu_e than for nu_mu or nu_tau. We study the effect of three-neutrino flavour oscillations on the process of neutrino decoupling by solving the momentum-dependent kinetic equations for the neutrino spectra. We find that oscillations do not essentially modify the total change in the neutrino energy density, giving N_eff=3.046 in terms of the effective number of neutrinos, while the small effect over the production of primordial 4He is increased by O(20%), up to 2.1 x 10^{-4}. These results are stable within the presently favoured region of neutrino mixing parameters.

hep-ph↗

arXiv2005

Massive neutrinos and cosmology

Cosmology can provide information on the absolute scale of neutrino masses, complementary to the results of tritium beta decay and neutrinoless double beta decay experiments. We show how the analysis of data from the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background radiation and from the distribution of cosmological large-scale structure, combined with other experimental results, provides an upper bound on the sum of neutrino masses. We also discuss the sensitivity of future cosmological data to neutrino masses.

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arXiv2004

Probing neutrino masses with future galaxy redshift surveys

We perform a new study of future sensitivities of galaxy redshift surveys to the free-streaming effect caused by neutrino masses, adding the information on cosmological parameters from measurements of primary anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background (CMB). Our reference cosmological scenario has nine parameters and three different neutrino masses, with a hierarchy imposed by oscillation experiments. Within the present decade, the combination of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS) and CMB data from the PLANCK experiment will have a 2-sigma detection threshold on the total neutrino mass close to 0.2 eV. This estimate is robust against the inclusion of extra free parameters in the reference cosmological model. On a longer term, the next generation of experiments may reach values of order sum m_nu = 0.1 eV at 2-sigma, or better if a galaxy redshift survey significantly larger than SDSS is completed. We also discuss how the small changes on the free-streaming scales in the normal and inverted hierarchy schemes are translated into the expected errors from future cosmological data.

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arXiv2004

Current cosmological bounds on neutrino masses and relativistic relics

We combine the most recent observations of large-scale structure (2dF and SDSS galaxy surveys) and cosmic microwave anisotropies (WMAP and ACBAR) to put constraints on flat cosmological models where the number of massive neutrinos and of massless relativistic relics are both left arbitrary. We discuss the impact of each dataset and of various priors on our bounds. For the standard case of three thermalized neutrinos, we find an upper bound on the total neutrino mass sum m_nu < 1.0 (resp. 0.6) eV (at 2sigma), using only CMB and LSS data (resp. including priors from supernovae data and the HST Key Project), a bound that is quite insensitive to the splitting of the total mass between the three species. When the total number of neutrinos or relativistic relics N_eff is left free, the upper bound on sum m_nu (at 2sigma, including all priors) ranges from 1.0 to 1.5 eV depending on the mass splitting. We provide an explanation of the parameter degeneracy that allows larger values of the masses when N_eff increases. Finally, we show that the limit on the total neutrino mass is not significantly modified in the presence of primordial gravitational waves, because current data provide a clear distinction between the corresponding effects.

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arXiv2003

Relic neutrinos: neutrino properties from cosmology

After a short introduction on the predicted cosmic neutrino background in the universe, we review some of the cosmological bounds related to neutrinos. In particular we show how the recent data on the anisotropies of the cosmic microwave background radiation from the WMAP satellite, combined with other experimental results, can constrain the radiation content of the universal energy density and the sum of neutrino masses.

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arXiv2003

Extraction of cluster parameters with future Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations

The Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect of galaxy clusters is characterized by three parameters: Compton parameter, electron temperature and cluster peculiar velocity. In the present study we consider the problem of extracting these parameters using multi-frequency SZ observations only. We show that there exists a parameter degeneracy which can be broken with an appropriate choice of frequencies. As a result we discuss the optimal choice of observing frequencies from a theoretical point of view. Finally, we analyze the systematic errors (of the order micro K) on the SZ measurement introduced by finite bandwidths, and suggest a possible method of reducing these errors.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2003

Measuring the cosmological background of relativistic particles with WMAP

We show that the first year results of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) constrain very efficiently the energy density in relativistic particles in the universe. We derive new bounds on additional relativistic degrees of freedom expressed in terms of an excess in the effective number of light neutrinos Delta N_eff. Within the flat LambdaCDM scenario, the allowed range is Delta N_eff < 6 (95% CL) using WMAP data only, or -2.6 < Delta N_eff < 4 with the prior H_0= 72 \pm 8 km/s/Mpc. When other cosmic microwave background and large scale structure experiments are taken into account, the window shrinks to -1.6 < Delta N_eff < 3.8. These results are in perfect agreement with the bounds from primordial nucleosynthesis. Non-minimal cosmological models with extra relativistic degrees of freedom are now severely restricted.

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arXiv2002

Flavor oscillations in the supernova hot bubble region: Nonlinear effects of neutrino background

The neutrino flux close to a supernova core contributes substantially to neutrino refraction so that flavor oscillations become a nonlinear phenomenon. One unexpected consequence is efficient flavor transformation for anti-neutrinos in a region where only neutrinos encounter an MSW resonance or vice versa. Contrary to previous studies we find that in the neutrino-driven wind the electron fraction Y_e always stays below 0.5, corresponding to a neutron-rich environment as required by r-process nucleosynthesis. The relevant range of masses and mixing angles includes the region indicated by LSND, but not the atmospheric or solar oscillation parameters.

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arXiv2002

First measurement of cluster temperature using the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect

We discuss a new method of finding the cluster temperatures which is independent of distance and therefore very useful for distant clusters. The hot gas of electrons in clusters of galaxies scatters and distorts the cosmic microwave background radiation in a well determined way. This Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) effect is a useful tool for extracting information about clusters such as their peculiar radial velocity and optical depth. Here we show how the temperature of the cluster can be inferred from the SZ effect, in principle without use of X-ray data. We use recent millimetre observation of Abell 2163 to determine for the first time a cluster temperature using SZ observations only. The result T_e = 26^+34_-19 keV at 68% confidence level (at 95% c.l. we find T>1.5 keV) is in reasonable agreement with the X-ray results, T_e =12.4^+2.8_-1.9 keV.

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arXiv2002

Constraining the window on sterile neutrinos as warm dark matter

Sterile neutrinos may be one of the best Warm Dark Matter candidates we have today. Both lower and upper bounds on the mass of the sterile neutrino come from astronomical observations. We show that the proper inclusion of the neutrino momentum distribution reduces the allowed region to be 2.6 keV < m < 5 keV for the simplest models. A search for a spectral line with E=m/2 is thus more interesting than ever before.

astro-ph↗

arXiv2000

Cosmology of the Randall-Sundrum model after dilaton stabilization

We provide the first complete analysis of cosmological evolution in the Randall-Sundrum model with stabilized dilaton. We give the exact expansion law for matter densities on the two branes with arbitrary equations of state. The effective four-dimensional theory leads to standard cosmology at low energy. The limit of validity of the low energy theory and possible deviations from the ordinary expansion law in the high energy regime are finally discussed.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1999

Relic neutrino asymmetry, CMB and large-scale structure

We consider some consequences of the presence of a cosmological lepton asymmetry in the form of neutrinos. A relic neutrino degeneracy enhances the contribution of massive neutrinos to the present energy density of the Universe, and modifies the power spectrum of radiation and matter. Comparing with current observations of cosmic microwave background anisotropies and large scale structure, we derive some constraints on the relic neutrino degeneracy and on the spectral index in the case of a flat Universe with a cosmological constant.

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arXiv1999

Cosmological implications of a Relic Neutrino Asymmetry

We consider some consequences of the presence of a cosmological lepton asymmetry in the form of neutrinos. Relic neutrino degeneracy enhances the contribution of massive neutrinos to the present energy density of the Universe, and modifies the power spectrum of radiation and matter. Comparing with current observations of cosmic microwave background anisotropies and large scale structure, we derive some constraints on the neutrino degeneracy and on the spectral index in the case of a flat Universe with a cosmological constant.

hep-ph↗

arXiv1999

Lepton Flavour Violation in a Left-Right Symmetric Model

We consider in this paper a Left-Right symmetric gauge model in which a global lepton-number-like symmetry is introduced and broken spontaneously at a scale that could be as low as 10^4 GeV or so. The corresponding physical Nambu-Goldstone boson, which we call majoron and denote J, can have tree-level flavour-violating couplings to the charged fermions, leading to sizeable majoron-emitting lepton-flavour-violating weak decays. We consider explicitly a leptonic variant of the model and show that the branching ratios for μ-> e+J, τ-> e + J and τ-> μ+ J decays can be large enough to fall within the sensitivities of future μand τfactories. On the other hand the left-right gauge symmetry breaking scale may be as low as few TeV.

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