The Impact of Assuming Flatness in the Determination of Neutrino Properties from Cosmological Data
Abstract
Cosmological data have provided new constraints on the number of neutrino species and the neutrino mass. However these constraints depend on assumptions related to the underlying cosmology. Since a correlation is expected between the number of effective neutrinos Neff, the neutrino mass Σ m, and the curvature of the universe k, it is useful to investigate the current constraints in the framework of a non-flat universe. In this paper we update the constraints on neutrino parameters by making use of the latest cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from the ACT and SPT experiments and consider the possibility of a universe with non-zero curvature. We first place new constraints on Neff and k, with Neff = 4.03 +/- 0.45 and 103 k = -4.46 +/- 5.24. Thus, even when k is allowed to vary, Neff = 3 is still disfavored with 95% confidence. We then investigate the correlation between neutrino mass and curvature that shifts the 95% upper limit of Σ m < 0.45 eV to Σ m < 0.95 eV. Thus, the impact of assuming flatness in neutrino cosmology is significant and an essential consideration with future experiments.
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