Constraints on neutrino masses from Planck and Galaxy clustering data

We present here bounds on neutrino masses from the combination of recent Planck cosmic microwave background (CMB) measurements and galaxy clustering information from the Baryon Oscillation Spectroscopic Survey, part of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey-III. We use the full shape of either the photometric angular clustering (Data Release 8) or the 3D spectroscopic clustering (Data Release 9) power spectrum in different cosmological scenarios. In the $\Lambda \mathrm{CDM}$ scenario, spectroscopic galaxy clustering measurements improve significantly the existing neutrino mass bounds from Planck data. We find $\sum _{}^{}{m}_{\nu }<0.39\mathrm{eV}$ at 95% confidence level for the combination of the 3D power spectrum with Planck CMB data (wi lensing included) and Wilkinson Microwave Anisoptropy Probe 9-year polarization measurements. Therefore, robust neutrino mass constraints can be obtained without the addition of the prior on the Hubble constant from Hubble Space Telescope. In extended cosmological scenarios with a dark energy fluid or with nonflat geometries, galaxy clustering measurements are essential to pin down the neutrino mass bounds, providing in the majority of cases better results than those obtained from the associated measurement of the baryon acoustic oscillation scale only. In the presence of a freely varying (constant) dark energy equation of state, we find $\sum _{}^{}{m}_{\nu }<0.49\mathrm{eV}$ at 95% confidence level for the combination of the 3D power spectrum with Planck CMB data (with lensing included) and Wilkinson Microwave Anisoptropy Probe 9-year polarization measurements. This same data combination in nonflat geometries provides the neutrino mass bound $\sum _{}^{}{m}_{\nu }<0.35\mathrm{eV}$ at 95% confidence level.

Figure 1

Left panel: The red (large) contours show the 68% and 95% C.L. allowed regions from the PLANCK data set in the ($\sum _{}^{}{m}_{\nu }$, $w$) plane, while the blue (thinner, lower contours) and green (thinner, upper) contours show the impact of the addition of the DR9 BAO signature and the full shape of DR9 galaxy clustering measurements, respectively. The small magenta contours depict the combination of PLANCK with DR9 Galaxy clustering data and SNLS3 measurements. Right panel: The red (large) contours show the 68% and 95% C.L. allowed regions from the PLANCK data set, while the blue (thinner, upper contours) and green (thinner, lower) contours show the impact of the addition of the DR9 BAO signature and the full shape of DR9 galaxy clustering measurements, respectively. Note the absence of the case with SNLS3 data in the analyses presented in this figure.