Anomalies* in the neutrino sector: can cosmology help?

by Pasquale Serpico (LAPTH Annecy)

Friday 16 Dec 2011, 14:00 → 15:00 Europe/Zurich

TH Theory Conference Room (CERN)

After summarizing the situation on neutrino flavour conversion anomalies and their interpretations in terms of eV-scale sterile neutrinos, I will recall why all the most popular interpretations of these data have significant cosmological consequences. I will illustrate the basic physics through which new light neutrino states affect observables in BBN, CMB, LSS mostly via “extra radiation” and “extra mass”. Then, I will present current "cosmological anomalies" and critically examine the extent to which they can be considered to support present "hints" for sterile neutrinos. I will finally stress the importance of forthcoming data in clarifying the cosmological situation in that respect.

Slides 1112CERN_serpico.pdf