Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Surveys Research Articles

Probing compensated isocurvature with the 21-cm signal during cosmic dawn

Upcoming measurements of the 21-cm line of neutral hydrogen will open a new observational window into the early stages of structure growth, providing a unique opportunity for probing large-scale cosmological signatures using the small-scale signals from the first stars. In this paper, we evaluate the detection significance of compensated isocurvature perturbations (CIPs) from observations of the 21-cm hydrogen line during the cosmic dawn era. CIPs are modulations of the relative baryon and dark-matter density that leave the total matter density unchanged. We find that, under different assumptions for feedback and foregrounds, the ongoing HERA and upcoming SKA1-low experiments will provide constraints on uncorrelated CIPs at the level of $\ensuremath{\sigma}({A}_{\mathrm{CIP}})={10}^{\ensuremath{-}3}\ensuremath{-}{10}^{\ensuremath{-}4}$, comparable to the sensitivity of upcoming cosmic microwave background experiments, and potentially exceeding the constraints from cosmic-variance limited baryon acoustic oscillation surveys.

LyaCoLoRe: synthetic datasets for current and future Lyman-α forest BAO surveys

The statistical power of Lyman-α forest Baryon Acoustic Oscillation (BAO) measurements is set to increase significantly in the coming years as new instruments such as the Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument deliver progressively more constraining data. Generating mock datasets for such measurements will be important for validating analysis pipelines and evaluating the effects of systematics. With such studies in mind, we present LyaCoLoRe: a package for producing synthetic Lyman-α forest survey datasets for BAO analyses. LyaCoLoRe transforms initial Gaussian random field skewers into skewers of transmitted flux fraction via a number of fast approximations. In this work we explain the methods of producing mock datasets used in LyaCoLoRe, and then measure correlation functions on a suite of realisations of such data. We demonstrate that we are able to recover the correct BAO signal, as well as large-scale bias parameters similar to literature values. Finally, we briefly describe methods to add further astrophysical effects to our skewers—high column density systems and metal absorbers—which act as potential complications for BAO analyses.

BAO modulation as a probe of compensated isocurvature perturbations

Compensated isocurvature perturbations (CIPs) are opposite spatial fluctuations in the baryon and dark matter density. They can be generated for example in the curvaton model in the early Universe but are difficult to observe because their gravitational imprint nearly cancels. We therefore propose a new measurement method by searching for a spatial modulation of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) scale that CIPs induce. We find that for a Euclid-like survey the sensitivity is marginally better than the WMAP cosmic microwave background (CMB) constraint, which exploits the CIP-induced modulation of the CMB sound horizon. For a cosmic-variance limited BAO survey using emission-line galaxies up to $z\sim7$ the sensitivity is between stage 3 and stage 4 CMB experiments. These results include using CIP-galaxy cross-correlations, which improves the sensitivity by a factor of $\sim2-3$ for correlated CIPs. The method could be further improved with an optimal estimator, similarly to the CMB, and could provide a useful cross-check of other CIP probes. Finally, if CIPs exist, they can bias cosmological measurements made assuming no CIPs. In particular, they can act as a super-sample fluctuation of the baryon density and bias measurements of the BAO scale. For modern BAO surveys, the largest 2$\sigma$ CIP fluctuation allowed by Planck's 95\% bound could bias BAO measurements of $H(z)$ by 2.2\%, partially reducing the tension with the local $H_0$ measurements from 3.1$\sigma$ to 2.3$\sigma$.

Cosmological impact of future constraints on H0 from gravitational-wave standard sirens

Gravitational-wave standard sirens present a novel approach for the determination of the Hubble constant. After the recent spectacular confirmation of the method thanks to GW170817 and its optical counterpart, additional standard siren measurements from future gravitational-wave sources are expected to constrain the Hubble constant to high accuracy. At the same time, improved constraints are expected from observations of cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarization and from baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) surveys. We explore the role of future standard siren constraints on $H_0$ in light of expected CMB+BAO data. Considering a $10$-parameters cosmological model, in which curvature, the dark energy equation of state, and the Hubble constant are unbounded by CMB observations, we find that a combination of future CMB+BAO data will constrain the Hubble parameter to $\sim 1.5 \%$. Further extending the parameter space to a time-varying dark energy equation of state, we find that future CMB+BAO constraints on $H_0$ are relaxed to $\sim 3.0 \%$. These accuracies are within reach of future standard siren measurements from the Hanford-Livingston-Virgo and the Hanford-Livingston-Virgo-Japan-India networks of interferometers, showing the cosmological relevance of these sources. If future gravitational-wave standard siren measurements reach $1\%$ on $H_0$, as expected, they would significantly improve future CMB+BAO constraints on curvature and on the dark energy equation of state by up to a factor $\sim 3$. We also show that the inclusion of $H_0$ constraints from gravitational-wave standard sirens could result in a reduction of the dark energy figure-of-merit (i.e., the cosmological parameter volume) by up to a factor of $\sim 400$.

Theoretical Systematics of Future Baryon Acoustic Oscillation Surveys

Future Baryon Acoustic Oscillation surveys aim at observing galaxy clustering over a wide range of redshift and galaxy populations at great precision, reaching tenths of a percent, in order to detect any deviation of dark energy from the $\LCDM$ model. We utilize a set of paired quasi-\Nb\, FastPM simulations that were designed to mitigate the sample variance effect on the BAO feature and evaluated the BAO systematics as precisely as $\sim 0.01\%$. We report anisotropic BAO scale shifts before and after density field reconstruction in the presence of redshift-space distortions over a wide range of redshift, galaxy/halo biases, and shot noise levels. We test different reconstruction schemes and different smoothing filter scales, and introduce physically-motivated BAO fitting models. For the first time, we derive a Galilean-invariant infrared resummed model for halos in real and redshift space. We test these models from the perspective of robust BAO measurements and non-BAO information such as growth rate and nonlinear bias. We find that pre-reconstruction BAO scale has moderate fitting-model dependence at the level of $0.1\%-0.2\%$ for matter while the dependence is substantially reduced to less than $0.07\%$ for halos. We find that post-reconstruction BAO shifts are generally reduced to below $0.1\%$ in the presence of galaxy/halo bias and show much smaller fitting model dependence. Different reconstruction conventions can potentially make a much larger difference on the line-of-sight BAO scale, upto $0.3\%$. Meanwhile, the precision (error) of the BAO measurements is quite consistent regardless of the choice of the fitting model or reconstruction convention.

A novel approach to quantifying the sensitivity of current and future cosmological datasets to the neutrino mass ordering through Bayesian hierarchical modeling

We present a novel approach to derive constraints on neutrino masses, as well as on other cosmological parameters, from cosmological data, while taking into account our ignorance of the neutrino mass ordering. We derive constraints from a combination of current as well as future cosmological datasets on the total neutrino mass Mν and on the mass fractions fν,i=mi/Mν (where the index i=1,2,3 indicates the three mass eigenstates) carried by each of the mass eigenstates mi, after marginalizing over the (unknown) neutrino mass ordering, either normal ordering (NH) or inverted ordering (IH). The bounds on all the cosmological parameters, including those on the total neutrino mass, take therefore into account the uncertainty related to our ignorance of the mass hierarchy that is actually realized in nature. This novel approach is carried out in the framework of Bayesian analysis of a typical hierarchical problem, where the distribution of the parameters of the model depends on further parameters, the hyperparameters. In this context, the choice of the neutrino mass ordering is modeled via the discrete hyperparameterhtype, which we introduce in the usual Markov chain analysis. The preference from cosmological data for either the NH or the IH scenarios is then simply encoded in the posterior distribution of the hyperparameter itself. Current cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements assign equal odds to the two hierarchies, and are thus unable to distinguish between them. However, after the addition of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) measurements, a weak preference for the normal hierarchical scenario appears, with odds of 4:3 from Planck temperature and large-scale polarization in combination with BAO (3:2 if small-scale polarization is also included). Concerning next-generation cosmological experiments, forecasts suggest that the combination of upcoming CMB (COrE) and BAO surveys (DESI) may determine the neutrino mass hierarchy at a high statistical significance if the mass is very close to the minimal value allowed by oscillation experiments, as for NH and a fiducial value of Mν=0.06 eV there is a 9:1 preference of normal versus inverted hierarchy. On the contrary, if the sum of the masses is of the order of 0.1 eV or larger, even future cosmological observations will be inconclusive. The innovative statistical strategy exploited here represents a very simple, efficient and robust tool to study the sensitivity of present and future cosmological data to the neutrino mass hierarchy, and a sound competitor to the standard Bayesian model comparison. The unbiased limit on Mν we obtain is crucial for ongoing and planned neutrinoless double beta decay searches.

How to Reconstruct a Varying Speed of Light Signal from Baryon Acoustic Oscillations Surveys

We describe an alternative way to use future Baryon Acoustic Oscillation observations to perform non-mainstream research. We focus on the so-called Varying Speed of Light theories, in which the speed of light is made to vary in time. Using prescriptions from future BAO surveys (BOSS, DESI, WFirst-2.4 and SKA), we show that, within such surveys, a 1% Varying Speed of Light (VSL) signal could be detected at 3 sigmas confidence level, in the redshift interval [0.75, 1.45]. Smaller signals will be hardly detected. We also discuss some possible problems related to such kinds of observation, in particular, the degeneracy between a VSL signal and a non-null spatial curvature.

Lensing is low: cosmology, galaxy formation or new physics?

We present high signal-to-noise galaxy-galaxy lensing measurements of the BOSS CMASS sample using 250 square degrees of weak lensing data from CFHTLenS and CS82. We compare this signal with predictions from mock catalogs trained to match observables including the stellar mass function and the projected and two dimensional clustering of CMASS. We show that the clustering of CMASS, together with standard models of the galaxy-halo connection, robustly predicts a lensing signal that is 20-40% larger than observed. Detailed tests show that our results are robust to a variety of systematic effects. Lowering the value of $S_{\rm 8}=\sigma_{\rm 8} \sqrt{\Omega_{\rm m}/0.3}$ compared to Planck2015 reconciles the lensing with clustering. However, given the scale of our measurement ($r<10$ $h^{-1}$ Mpc), other effects may also be at play and need to be taken into consideration. We explore the impact of baryon physics, assembly bias, massive neutrinos, and modifications to general relativity on $\Delta\Sigma$ and show that several of these effects may be non-negligible given the precision of our measurement. Disentangling cosmological effects from the details of the galaxy-halo connection, the effects of baryons, and massive neutrinos, is the next challenge facing joint lensing and clustering analyses. This is especially true in the context of large galaxy samples from Baryon Acoustic Oscillation surveys with precise measurements but complex selection functions.

Information gains from cosmological probes

In light of the growing number of cosmological observations, it is important to develop versatile tools to quantify the constraining power and consistency of cosmological probes. Originally motivated from information theory, we use the relative entropy to compute the information gained by Bayesian updates in units of bits. This measure quantifies both the improvement in precision and the `surprise', i.e. the tension arising from shifts in central values. Our starting point is a WMAP9 prior which we update with observations of the distance ladder, supernovae (SNe), baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO), and weak lensing as well as the 2015 Planck release. We consider the parameters of the flat ΛCDM concordance model and some of its extensions which include curvature and Dark Energy equation of state parameter w. We find that, relative to WMAP9 and within these model spaces, the probes that have provided the greatest gains are Planck (10 bits), followed by BAO surveys (5.1 bits) and SNe experiments (3.1 bits). The other cosmological probes, including weak lensing (1.7 bits) and {H0} measures (1.7 bits), have contributed information but at a lower level. Furthermore, we do not find any significant surprise when updating the constraints of WMAP9 with any of the other experiments, meaning that they are consistent with WMAP9. However, when we choose Planck15 as the prior, we find that, accounting for the full multi-dimensionality of the parameter space, the weak lensing measurements of CFHTLenS produce a large surprise of 4.4 bits which is statistically significant at the 8 σ level. We discuss how the relative entropy provides a versatile and robust framework to compare cosmological probes in the context of current and future surveys.

The foreground wedge and 21-cm BAO surveys

Redshifted H{\sc\,i} 21 cm emission from unresolved low-redshift large scale structure is a promising window for ground-based Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) observations. A major challenge for this method is separating the cosmic signal from the foregrounds of Galactic and extra-Galactic origins that are stronger by many orders of magnitude than the former. The smooth frequency spectrum expected for the foregrounds would nominally contaminate only very small $k_\parallel$ modes; however the chromatic response of the telescope antenna pattern at this wavelength to the foreground introduces non-smooth structure, pervasively contaminating the cosmic signal over the physical scales of our interest. Such contamination defines a wedged volume in Fourier space around the transverse modes that is inaccessible for the cosmic signal. In this paper, we test the effect of this contaminated wedge on the future 21 cm BAO surveys using Fisher information matrix calculation. We include the signal improvement due to the BAO reconstruction technique that has been used for galaxy surveys and test the effect of this wedge on the BAO reconstruction as a function of signal to noises and incorporate the results in the Fisher matrix calculation. We find that the wedge effect expected at $z=1-2$ is very detrimental to the angular diameter distances: the errors on angular diameter distances increased by 3-4.4 times, while the errors on H(z) increased by a factor of 1.5-1.6. We conclude that calibration techniques that clean out the foreground "wedge" would be extremely valuable for constraining angular diameter distances from intensity-mapping 21 cm surveys.

Optimal redshift weighting for baryon acoustic oscillations

Future baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) surveys will survey very large volumes, covering wide ranges in redshift. We derive a set of redshift weights to compress the information in the redshift direction to a small number of modes. We suggest that such a compression preserves almost all of the signal for most cosmologies, while giving high signal-to-noise measurements for each combination. We present some toy models and simple worked examples. As an intermediate step, we give a precise meaning to the "effective redshift" of a BAO measurement.

Probing [formula omitted] cosmology with sterile neutrinos via measurements of scale-dependent growth rate of structure

In this paper, we constrain the dimensionless Compton wavelength parameter B0 of f(R) gravity as well as the mass of sterile neutrino by using the cosmic microwave background observations, the baryon acoustic oscillation surveys, and the linear growth rate measurements. Since both the f(R) model and the sterile neutrino generally predict scale-dependent growth rates, we utilize the growth rate data measured in different wavenumber bins with the theoretical growth rate approximatively scale-independent in each bin. The employed growth rate data come from the peculiar velocity measurements at z=0 in five wavenumber bins, and the redshift space distortions measurements at z=0.25 and z=0.37 in one wavenumber bin. By constraining the f(R) model alone, we get a tight 95% upper limit of log10⁡B0<−4.1. This result is slightly weakened to log10⁡B0<−3.8 (at 2σ level) once we simultaneously constrain the f(R) model and the sterile neutrino mass, due to the degeneracy between the parameters of the two. For the massive sterile neutrino parameters, we get the effective sterile neutrino mass mν,sterileeff<0.62 eV (2σ) and the effective number of relativistic species Neff<3.90 (2σ) in the f(R) model. As a comparison, we also obtain mν,sterileeff<0.56 eV (2σ) and Neff<3.92 (2σ) in the standard ΛCDM model.

Planck2013 results. XVI. Cosmological parameters

We present the first results based on Planck measurements of the CMB temperature and lensing-potential power spectra. The Planck spectra at high multipoles are extremely well described by the standard spatially-flat six-parameter LCDM cosmology. In this model Planck data determine the cosmological parameters to high precision. We find a low value of the Hubble constant, H0=67.3+/-1.2 km/s/Mpc and a high value of the matter density parameter, Omega_m=0.315+/-0.017 (+/-1 sigma errors) in excellent agreement with constraints from baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) surveys. Including curvature, we find that the Universe is consistent with spatial flatness to percent-level precision using Planck CMB data alone. We present results from an analysis of extensions to the standard cosmology, using astrophysical data sets in addition to Planck and high-resolution CMB data. None of these models are favoured significantly over standard LCDM. The deviation of the scalar spectral index from unity is insensitive to the addition of tensor modes and to changes in the matter content of the Universe. We find a 95% upper limit of r<0.11 on the tensor-to-scalar ratio. There is no evidence for additional neutrino-like relativistic particles. Using BAO and CMB data, we find N_eff=3.30+/-0.27 for the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, and an upper limit of 0.23 eV for the summed neutrino mass. Our results are in excellent agreement with big bang nucleosynthesis and the standard value of N_eff=3.046. We find no evidence for dynamical dark energy. Despite the success of the standard LCDM model, this cosmology does not provide a good fit to the CMB power spectrum at low multipoles, as noted previously by the WMAP team. While not of decisive significance, this is an anomaly in an otherwise self-consistent analysis of the Planck temperature data.

Cosmology with Planck

The European Space Agency (hereafter ESA) Planck satellite was launched on May 2009 and has been surveying the microwave and the submillimeter sky since August 2009. In March 2013, ESA and the Planck Collaboration publicly released the initial cosmology products based on the first 15.5 months of Planck operations. In this contribution we present the first cosmological results based on Planck measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Radiation temperature and lensing-potential power spectra. The Planck spectra at high multipoles are well described by the standard Lambda Cold Dark Matter (?CDM) cosmological model based on six parameters. We find a low value of the Hubble parameter, H 0 = 67.3 ± 1.2 km/s/Mpc, and, consequently, an high value of the matter parameter density Ω m = 0.315±0.017 (±1σ errors), in agreement with the measurements of baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) surveys. We also present results from several possible extensions of the standard cosmological model, by using astrophysical datasets in addition to the Planck data. None of these models are favored significantly over the standard ?CDM. Using BAO and CMB data, we find N eff = 3.30 ± 0.27 for the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom, and an upper limit of 0.25 eV for the summed neutrino mass.

JPCAM: A 1.2 GPIXEL CAMERA FOR THE J-PAS SURVEY

JPCam is a 14-CCD mosaic camera, using the new e2v 9k-by-9k 10 μm-pixel 16-channel detectors, to be deployed on a dedicated 2.55 m wide-field telescope at the OAJ (Observatorio Astrofísico de Javalambre) in Aragon, Spain. The camera is designed to perform a Baryon Acoustic Oscillations (BAO) survey of the northern sky. The J-PAS survey strategy will use 54 relatively narrow-band (~ 13.8 nm) filters equi-spaced between 370 and 920 nm plus 3 broad-band filters to achieve unprecedented photometric red-shift accuracies for faint galaxies over ~8000 square degrees of sky. The cryostat, detector mosaic and read electronics, is being supplied by e2v under contract to J-PAS while the mechanical structure, housing the shutter and filter assembly, is being designed and constructed by a Brazilian consortium led by INPE (Instituto Nacional de Pesquisas Espaciais). The cryostat is bridged to the telescope via a hexapod actuator system to maintain image quality across the field. Four sets of 14 filters are placed in the ambient environment, just above the dewar window but directly in line with the detectors, leading to a mosaic having ~ 10 mm gaps between each CCD. The massive 500 mm aperture shutter is expected to be supplied by the Bonn-Shutter UG. We will present an overview of JPCam, from the filter configuration through to the CCD mosaic camera. A brief outline of the main J-PAS science projects will be included.

Measuring galaxy [O ii] emission line doublet with future ground-based wide-field spectroscopic surveys

The next generation of wide-field spectroscopic redshift surveys will map the large-scale galaxy distribution in the redshift range 0.7< z<2 to measure baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAO). The primary optical signature used in this redshift range comes from the [OII] emission line doublet, which provides a unique redshift identification that can minimize confusion with other single emission lines. To derive the required spectrograph resolution for these redshift surveys, we simulate observations of the [OII] (3727,3729) doublet for various instrument resolutions, and line velocities. We foresee two strategies about the choice of the resolution for future spectrographs for BAO surveys. For bright [OII] emitter surveys ([OII] flux ~30.10^{-17} erg /cm2/s like SDSS-IV/eBOSS), a resolution of R~3300 allows the separation of 90 percent of the doublets. The impact of the sky lines on the completeness in redshift is less than 6 percent. For faint [OII] emitter surveys ([OII] flux ~10.10^{-17} erg /cm2/s like DESi), the detection improves continuously with resolution, so we recommend the highest possible resolution, the limit being given by the number of pixels (4k by 4k) on the detector and the number of spectroscopic channels (2 or 3).

Cosmological data and indications for new physics

Data from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the South Pole Telescope (SPT), combined with the nine-year data release from the WMAP satellite, provide very precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) angular anisotropies down to very small angular scales. Augmented with measurements from Baryonic Acoustic Oscillations surveys and determinations of the Hubble constant, we investigate whether there are indications for new physics beyond a Harrison-Zel'dovich model for primordial perturbations and the standard number of relativistic degrees of freedom at primordial recombination. All combinations of datasets point to physics beyond the minimal Harrison-Zel'dovich model in the form of either a scalar spectral index different from unity or additional relativistic degrees of freedom at recombination (e.g., additional light neutrinos). Beyond that, the extended datasets including either ACT or SPT provide very different indications: while the extended-ACT (eACT) dataset is perfectly consistent with the predictions of standard slow-roll inflation, the extended-SPT (eSPT) dataset prefers a non-power-law scalar spectral index with a very large variation with scale of the spectral index. Both eACT and eSPT favor additional light degrees of freedom on top of the Harrison-Zel'dovich model. eACT is consistent with zero neutrino masses, while eSPT favors nonzero neutrino masses at more than 95% confidence.

AGN and QSOs in the eROSITA All-Sky Survey

The four-year X-ray all-sky survey (eRASS) of the eROSITA telescope aboard the Spektrum-Roentgen-Gamma satellite will detect ~3 million active galactic nuclei (AGN) with a median redshift of z~1 and a typical luminosity of L_(0.5-2.0 keV) ~ 10^(44) erg/s. We show that this unprecedented AGN sample, complemented with redshift information, will supply us with outstanding opportunities for large-scale structure research. For the first time, detailed redshift- and luminosity-resolved studies of the bias factor for X-ray selected AGN will become possible. The eRASS AGN sample will not only improve the redshift- and luminosity-resolution of these studies, but will also expand their luminosity range beyond L_(0.5-2.0 keV) ~ 10^(44) erg/s, thus enabling a direct comparison of the clustering properties of luminous X-ray AGN and optical quasars. These studies will dramatically improve our understanding of the AGN environment, triggering mechanisms, the growth of supermassive black holes and their co-evolution with dark matter halos. The eRASS AGN sample will become a powerful cosmological probe. It will enable detecting baryonic acoustic oscillations (BAOs) for the first time with X-ray selected AGN. With the data from the entire extragalactic sky, BAO will be detected at a >~10sigma confidence level in the full redshift range and with ~8sigma confidence in the 0.8 < z < 2.0 range, which is currently not covered by any existing BAO surveys. To exploit the full potential of the eRASS AGN sample, photometric and spectroscopic surveys of large areas and a sufficient depth will be needed.

Neutrino anisotropies after Planck

We present new constraints on the rest-frame sound speed, c_{eff}^2, and the viscosity parameter, c_{vis}^2, of the Cosmic Neutrino Background from the recent measurements of the Cosmic Microwave Background anisotropies provided by the Planck satellite. While broadly consistent with the expectations of c_{eff}^2=c_{vis}^2=1/3 in the standard scenario, the Planck dataset hints at a higher value of the viscosity parameter, with c_{vis}^2=0.60+/-0.18 at 68% c.l., and a lower value of the sound speed, with c_{eff}^2=0.304+/-0.013 at 68% c.l.. We find a correlation between the neutrino parameters and the lensing amplitude of the temperature power spectrum A_L. When the latter parameter is allowed to vary, we find a better consistency with the standard model with c_{vis}^2=0.51+/-0.22, c_{eff}^2=0.311+/-0.019 and A_L=1.08+/-0.18 at 68% c.l.. This result indicates that the anomalous large value of A_L measured by Planck could be connected to non-standard neutrino properties. Including additional datasets from Baryon Acoustic Oscillation surveys and the Hubble Space Telescope constraint on the Hubble constant, we obtain c_{vis}^2=0.40+/-0.19, c_{eff}^2=0.319+/-0.019, and A_{L}=1.15+/-0.17 at 68% c.l.; including the lensing power spectrum, we obtain c_{vis}^2=0.50+/-0.19, c_{eff}^2=0.314+/-0.015, and A_L=1.025+/-0.076 at 68% c.l.. Finally, we investigate further degeneracies between the clustering parameters and other cosmological parameters.

Tickling the CMB damping tail: Scrutinizing the tension between the Atacama Cosmology Telescope and South Pole Telescope experiments

The Atacama Cosmology Telescope (ACT) and the South Pole Telescope (SPT) have recently provided new, very precise measurements of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy damping tail. The values of the cosmological parameters inferred from these measurements, while broadly consistent with the expectations of the standard cosmological model, are providing interesting possible indications for new physics that are definitely worth of investigation. The ACT results, while compatible with the standard expectation of three neutrino families, indicate a level of CMB lensing, parametrized by the lensing amplitude parameter A_L, that is about 70% higher than expected. If not a systematic, this anomalous lensing amplitude could be produced by modifications of general relativity or coupled dark energy. Vice-versa, the SPT experiment, while compatible with a standard level of CMB lensing, prefers an excess of dark radiation, parametrized by the effective number of relativistic degrees of freedom N_eff. Here we perform a new analysis of these experiments allowing simultaneous variations in both these, non-standard, parameters. We also combine these experiments, for the first time in the literature, with the recent WMAP9 data, one at a time. Including the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) prior on the Hubble constant and information from baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) surveys provides the following constraints from ACT: N_eff=3.23\pm0.47, A_L=1.65\pm0.33 at 68% c.l., while for SPT we have N_eff=3.76\pm0.34, A_L=0.81\pm0.12 at 68% c.l.. In particular, the A_L estimates from the two experiments, even when a variation in N_eff is allowed, are in tension at more than 95% c.l..