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    Scale and redshift dependent limits on cosmic neutrino properties

    Deng Wang* and Olga Mena†

    Eleonora Di Valentino‡

    Stefano Gariazzo§

    • School of Mathematical and Physical Sciences, University of Sheffield, Hounsfield Road, Sheffield S3 7RH, United Kingdom

    • *Contact author: dengwang@ific.uv.es
    • †Contact author: omena@ific.uv.es
    • ‡Contact author: e.divalentino@sheffield.ac.uk
    • §Contact author: stefano.gariazzo@unito.it

    Phys. Rev. D 112, 063555 – Published 26 September, 2025

    DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/6m5f-xn8r

    Abstract

    Cosmological neutrino mass and abundance measurements are reaching unprecedented precision. Testing their stability versus redshift and scale is a crucial issue, as it can serve as a guide for optimizing ongoing and future searches. Here, we perform such analyses, considering a number of redshift, scale, and redshift-and-scale nodes. Concerning the k-space analysis of ∑mν, cosmic microwave background (CMB) observations are crucial, as they lead the neutrino mass constraints. Interestingly, some data combinations suggest a nonzero value for the neutrino mass with 2σ significance. The most constraining bound we find is ∑mν<0.54  eV at 95% confidence level (CL) in the [10−3,10−2]  h/Mpc k-bin, a limit that barely depends on the data combination. Regarding the redshift- and scale-dependent neutrino mass constraints, high redshifts (z>100) and scales in the range [10−3,10−1]  h/Mpc provide the best constraints. The least constraining bounds are obtained at very low redshifts [0, 0.5] and also at very small scales (k>0.1  h/Mpc) due to the absence of observations. Highly relevant is the case of the [100, 1100], [10−2,10−1]  h/Mpc redshift-scale bin, where a 2−3σ evidence for a nonzero neutrino mass is obtained for all data combinations. The bound from CMB alone at 68% CL is 0.63−0.24+0.20  eV, and the one for the full dataset is 0.56−0.23+0.20  eV, clearly suggesting a nonzero neutrino mass at these scales, possibly related to a deviation of the integrated Sachs-Wolfe amplitude in this redshift range. Concerning the analysis of Neff in the k-space, at intermediate scales ranging from k=10−3  h/Mpc to k=10−1  h/Mpc, accurate CMB data provide very strong bounds, the most robust one being Neff=3.09±0.14, comparable to the standard expected value without a k-bin analysis. If a nonzero neutrino mass is considered, the bounds on the Neff values at the different k-bins are largely unaffected, and the 95% CL tightest limit we find for the neutrino mass in this case is ∑mν<0.205  eV from the full dataset. Finally, the z and k analyses of Neff indicate a high constraining power of cosmological observations at high redshifts and intermediate scales [10−2,10−1]  h/Mpc when extracting the binned values of this parameter.

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