REVIEW
Effect of neutrino rest mass on ionization equilibrium freeze-out
Not yet reviewed by Pith; the record is open.
This paper has not been read by Pith yet. Machine review is queued; the pith claim, tier, and objections will appear here once it completes.
SPECIMEN: schema-true, not a live event
T0 review · schema-true
One-sentence machine reading of the paper's core claim.
pith:XXXXXXXX · record.json · timestamp
Effect of neutrino rest mass on ionization equilibrium freeze-out
read the original abstract
We discuss how small neutrino rest masses can increase the expansion rate near the photon decoupling epoch in the early universe, causing an earlier, higher temperature freeze-out for ionization equilibrium compared to the massless neutrino case. This yields a larger free-electron fraction. A larger ratio of the sound horizon to the photon diffusion length follows, implying a smaller inferred Neff. This neutrino-mass/recombination effect depends strongly on the neutrino rest masses. Though below current sensitivity, this effect could be probed by next-generation cosmic microwave background experiments, giving an observational handle of neutrino mass physics.
discussion (0)
Sign in with ORCID, Apple, or X to comment. Anyone can read and Pith papers without signing in.