Search Publications
Quasar-Lyman α forest cross-correlation from BOSS DR11: Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
Pâris, Isabelle; Petitjean, Patrick; Aubourg, Éric +40 more
We measure the large-scale cross-correlation of quasars with the Lyα forest absorption, using over 164,000 quasars from Data Release 11 of the SDSS-III Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey. We extend the previous study of roughly 60,000 quasars from Data Release 9 to larger separations, allowing a measurement of the Baryonic Acoustic Oscillatio…
The best inflationary models after Planck
Ringeval, Christophe; Trotta, Roberto; Martin, Jérôme +1 more
We compute the Bayesian evidence and complexity of 193 slow-roll single-field models of inflation using the Planck 2013 Cosmic Microwave Background data, with the aim of establishing which models are favoured from a Bayesian perspective. Our calculations employ a new numerical pipeline interfacing an inflationary effective likelihood with the slow…
DESI and other Dark Energy experiments in the era of neutrino mass measurements
Font-Ribera, Andreu; Seo, Hee-Jong; Slosar, Anže +3 more
We present Fisher matrix projections for future cosmological parameter measurements, including neutrino masses, Dark Energy, curvature, modified gravity, the inflationary perturbation spectrum, non-Gaussianity, and dark radiation. We focus on DESI and generally redshift surveys (BOSS, HETDEX, eBOSS, Euclid, and WFIRST), but also include CMB (Planc…
Toward an understanding of foreground emission in the BICEP2 region
Spergel, David N.; Hill, J. Colin; Flauger, Raphael
BICEP2 has reported the detection of a degree-scale B-mode polarization pattern in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and has interpreted the measurement as evidence for primordial gravitational waves. Motivated by the profound importance of the discovery of gravitational waves from the early Universe, we examine to what extent a combination of…
A joint analysis of Planck and BICEP2 B modes including dust polarization uncertainty
Seljak, Uroš; Mortonson, Michael J.
We analyze BICEP2 and Planck data using a model that includes CMB lensing, gravity waves, and polarized dust. Recently published Planck dust polarization maps have highlighted the difficulty of estimating the amount of dust polarization in low intensity regions, suggesting that the polarization fractions have considerable uncertainties and may be …
PRISM (Polarized Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission): an extended white paper
García-Bellido, Juan; Palanque-Delabrouille, Nathalie; Fuller, Gary +139 more
PRISM (Polarized Radiation Imaging and Spectroscopy Mission) was proposed to ESA in May 2013 as a large-class mission for investigating within the framework of the ESA Cosmic Vision program a set of important scientific questions that require high resolution, high sensitivity, full-sky observations of the sky emission at wavelengths ranging from m…
The Atacama Cosmology Telescope: CMB polarization at 200 < ℓ < 9000
Hilton, Matt; Hasselfield, Matthew; Bond, J. Richard +75 more
We report on measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) and celestial polarization at 146 GHz made with the Atacama Cosmology Telescope Polarimeter (ACTPol) in its first three months of observing. Four regions of sky covering a total of 270 square degrees were mapped with an angular resolution of 1.3'. The map noise levels in the four r…
Constraining dark matter-neutrino interactions using the CMB and large-scale structure
Lesgourgues, Julien; Bœhm, Céline; Wilkinson, Ryan J.
We present a new study on the elastic scattering cross section of dark matter (DM) and neutrinos using the latest cosmological data from Planck and large-scale structure experiments. We find that the strongest constraints are set by the Lyman-α forest, giving σDM-ν lesssim 10-33(mDM/GeV) cm2 if the cross…
Updated constraints on non-standard neutrino interactions from Planck
Archidiacono, Maria; Hannestad, Steen
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 neut…
Strongest model-independent bound on the lifetime of Dark Matter
Tram, Thomas; Lesgourgues, Julien; Mangano, Gianpiero +2 more
Dark Matter is essential for structure formation in the late Universe so it must be stable on cosmological time scales. But how stable exactly? Only assuming decays into relativistic particles, we report an otherwise model independent bound on the lifetime of Dark Matter using current cosmological data. Since these decays affect only the low ℓ mul…