Limits on Neutrino Mass from Cosmic Structure Formation

Abstract

We consider the effect of three species of neutrinos with nearly degenerate mass on the cosmic structure formation in a low matter-density universe within a hierarchical clustering scenario with a flat initial perturbation spectrum. The matching condition for fluctuation powers at the COBE scale and at the cluster scale leads to a strong upper limit on neutrino mass. For a flat universe with matter density parameter Omega=0.3, we obtain m_nu<0.6eV for the Hubble constant H_0<80km/s/Mpc. Allowing for the more generous parameter space limited by Omega<0.4, H_0<80km/s/Mpc and age t_0>11.5Gyr, the limit is 0.9eV.