Nuclear Particle Astrophysics (NPA) Seminar: Martina Gerbino, Stockholm University, “Neutrino Mass from Cosmology”

Event time: 
Thursday, May 18, 2017 - 1:00pm to 2:00pm
Location: 
Wright Lab, 210 Conference Room (WL210) See map
272 Whitney Avenue
New Haven, CT 06520
(Location is wheelchair accessible)
Event description: 

Neutrino Mass from Cosmology

Neutrinos are the only standard model particles of unknown mass. Thus, measuring their mass is one of the leading goals in fundamental physics. Cosmology currently provides the tightest bounds on the sum of the neutrino masses and the possibility that next generation experiments can provide a detection looks promising. Then, further questions would have to be addressed, such as those related to the neutrino hierarchy and the neutrino nature.

In this talk, I will discuss the treasure trove of information about massive neutrinos that we can collect from different cosmological probes. In particular, I will show that the combination of Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) and Large Scale Structure (LSS) measurements provides a tight and robust bound on the neutrino mass scale and I will introduce a novel method to assess the sensitivity of cosmological data to the neutrino hierarchy.

Finally, I will choose a different angle and show how massive neutrino unknowns can affect the constraints on inflationary models.

Important findings in the neutrino sector are just around the corner and cosmology, in combination with laboratory avenues, will unveil neutrino secrets in the coming years.

Open to: 
Yale Community Only