English

Updated constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions from Planck

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2015-06-17 v2 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

We provide updated bounds on non-standard neutrino interactions based on data from the Planck satellite as well as auxiliary cosmological measurements. Two types of models are studied - A Fermi-like 4-point interaction and an interaction mediated by a light pseudoscalar - and we show that these two models are representative of models in which neutrinos either decouple or recouple in the early Universe. Current cosmological data constrain the effective 4-point coupling to be GX(0.06GeV)2G_X \leq \left(0.06 \, {\rm GeV}\right)^{-2}, corresponding to GX2.5×107GFG_X \leq 2.5 \times 10^7 G_F. For non-standard pseudoscalar interactions we set a limit on the diagonal elements of the dimensionless coupling matrix, gijg_{ij}, of gii1.2×107g_{ii} \leq 1.2 \times 10^{-7}. For the off-diagonal elements which induce neutrino decay the bound is significantly stronger, corresponding to gij2.3×1011(m/0.05eV)2g_{ij} \leq 2.3 \times 10^{-11}(m/0.05 \, {\rm eV})^{-2}, or a lifetime constraint of τ1.2×109s(m/0.05eV)3\tau \geq 1.2 \times 10^{9} \, {\rm s} \, (m/0.05 \, {\rm eV})^{3} \,. This is currently the strongest known bound on this particular type of neutrino decay. We finally note that extremely strong neutrino self-interactions which completely suppress anisotropic stress over all of cosmic history are very highly disfavored by current data (Δχ2104\Delta \chi^2 \sim 10^4).

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.1311.3873,
  title  = {Updated constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions from Planck},
  author = {Maria Archidiacono and Steen Hannestad},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1311.3873},
  year   = {2015}
}

Comments

22 pages, 9 figures. Version published in JCAP