English

Neutrino self-interactions in post-reionization era: Lyman-$\alpha$, 21-cm and cross-spectra

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2026-04-17 v1 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

Neutrino self-interactions delay the onset of free-streaming in the early universe, leaving distinct, scale-dependent signatures on the matter power spectrum. We investigate these signatures in post-reionization 21-cm intensity mapping and the Lyman-α\alpha (Lyα\alpha) forest at redshifts z2z \sim 2--3.53.5, and forecast the constraints achievable with upcoming surveys using Fisher matrix analysis. Modeling neutrino self-interactions through an effective four-fermion parameterization with coupling GeffG_{\rm eff}, we compute modifications to the Lyα\alpha and 21-cm auto- and cross-power spectra for both strongly interacting (SIν_\nu, log10Geff=1.77\log_{10}G_{\mathrm{eff}} = -1.77) and moderately interacting (MIν_\nu, log10Geff=5\log_{10}G_{\mathrm{eff}} = -5) scenarios. We then combine these with forecasts for a representative next-generation cosmic microwave background (CMB) mission to evaluate the capabilities of SKA1-Mid and PUMA. We find that the Lyα\alpha--21-cm cross-correlation provides a systematics-resilient probe of the interaction signal, and decisively breaks the degeneracy between the primordial scalar power spectrum amplitude (AsA_s) and GeffG_{\rm eff} that limits CMB only analysis, particularly for the SIν_\nu mode. Furthermore, the CMB+PUMA combination emerges as the optimal survey configuration for both regimes, reaching 1σ\sigma constraints of O(103)\mathcal{O}(10^{-3}) on σ(log10Geff)\sigma(\log_{10}G_{\rm eff}) for the SIν_\nu mode and O(102)\mathcal{O}(10^{-2}) for the MIν_\nu mode. Compared to the CMB-only baseline, this represents an improvement of approximately one order of magnitude for the SIν_\nu mode, and nearly two orders of magnitude for the MIν_\nu mode. We show that this conclusion holds uniformly over the full range of coupling strengths from log10Geff=6\log_{10}G_{\rm eff} = -6 to 1.77-1.77.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2604.15287,
  title  = {Neutrino self-interactions in post-reionization era: Lyman-$\alpha$, 21-cm and cross-spectra},
  author = {Sourav Pal and Supratik Pal},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2604.15287},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

40 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables. Comments are welcome