Fresh look at neutrino self-interactions with the Lyman- forest: Constraints from EFT and PRIYA simulations
Phys. Rev. D 112, 063540 – Published 19 September, 2025
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1103/wzpy-p7w8
Abstract
We present the first search for evidence of neutrino self-interaction with two new, state-of-the-art likelihoods for eBOSS Lyman- data. These are an effective field theory (EFT) likelihood with priors from the Sherwood simulation suite, and a compressed likelihood derived from an emulator built using the PRIYA simulation suite. Previous analyses that combined Planck measurements with eBOSS Lyman- likelihoods based on earlier simulations found a preference for neutrino self-interactions. In contrast, using either of the new eBOSS Lyman- likelihoods, we find that a joint analysis with the cosmic microwave background data from Planck prefers a negligible level of neutrino self-interaction, and derive new constraints on the neutrino self-coupling: for Lyman-, and for Lyman-, at 68% confidence. We also consider Planck in combination with DESI BAO data, and find that the latter does not provide significant constraining power for neutrino self-interactions.