Neutrino mass and dark energy constraints from redshift-space distortions

Abstract

Cosmology in the near future promises a measurement of the sum of neutrino masses ∑ mν, a fundamental Standard Model parameter, as well as substantially-improved constraints on the dark energy. We use the shape of the BOSS redshift-space galaxy power spectrum, in combination with CMB and supernova data, to constrain the neutrino masses and the dark energy. Essential to this calculation are several recent advances in non-linear cosmological perturbation theory, including fast Fourier transform methods, redshift space distortions, and scale-dependent growth. Our 95% confidence upper bound ∑ mν < 180 meV degrades substantially to ∑ mν < 540 meV when the dark energy equation of state and its first derivative are also allowed to vary, representing a significant challenge to current constraints. We also study the impact of additional galaxy bias parameters, finding that a greater allowed range of scale-dependent bias only slightly shifts the preferred ∑ mν, weakens its upper bound by ≈ 20%, and has a negligible effect on the other cosmological parameters.