Impact of Massive Neutrinos and Dark Radiation on the High-Redshift Cosmic Web

  • Published : 2018.05.08

Abstract

With upcoming high-quality data from surveys such as eBOSS or DESI, improving the theoretical modeling and gaining a deeper understanding of the effects of neutrinos and dark radiation on structure formation at small scales are necessary, to obtain robust constraints free from systematic biases. Using a novel suite of hydrodynamical simulations that incorporate dark matter, baryons, massive neutrinos, and dark radiation, we present a detailed study of their impact on Lyman-Alpha forest observables. In particular, we accurately measure the tomographic evolution of the shape and amplitude of the small-scale matter and flux power spectra and search for unique signatures along with preferred scales where a neutrino mass detection may be feasible. We then investigate the thermal state of the intergalactic medium (IGM) through the temperature-density relation. Our results indicate that the IGM at z ~ 3 provides the best sensitivity to active and sterile neutrinos.

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