Cosmological constraints on neutrinos after BICEP2

Abstract

Since the B-mode polarization of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) was detected by the BICEP2 experiment and an unexpectedly large tensor-to-scalar ratio, r=0.20-0.05+0.07, was found, the base standard cosmology should at least be extended to the 7-parameter ΛCDM+r model. In this paper, we consider the extensions to this base ΛCDM+r model by including additional base parameters relevant to neutrinos and/or other neutrino-like relativistic components. Four neutrino cosmological models are considered, i.e., the ΛCDM+r+∑mν, ΛCDM+r+Neff, ΛCDM+r+∑mν+Neff, and ΛCDM+r+Neff+mν,sterileeff models. We combine the current data, including the Planck temperature data, the WMAP 9-year polarization data, the baryon acoustic oscillation data, the Hubble constant direct measurement data, the Planck Sunyaev–Zeldovich cluster counts data, the Planck CMB lensing data, the cosmic shear data, and the BICEP2 polarization data, to constrain these neutrino cosmological models. We focus on the constraints on the parameters ∑mν, Neff, and mν,sterileeff. We also discuss whether the tension on r between Planck and BICEP2 can be relieved in these neutrino cosmological models.