What Lyman-alpha surveys tell us about neutrinos

Although tiny, the signature that massive neutrinos leave on large-scale structures is today used as one of the most sensitive probes that can improve our knowledge on neutrino masses. After a brief introduction on the impact of neutrinos on the growth of structures, I will present constraints that were obtained recently using data from BOSS Lyman-alpha survey and from Planck, in combination with dedicated hydrodynamical simulations that reproduce the impact of neutrinos on the intergalactic medium. In a second part, I will show how Lyman-alpha data and minimal extension of the previous grid of hydrodynamical simulations can also lead to competitive limits on warm dark matter, whether in the form of a thermal relic particle or a sterile neutrino.

Speaker: Nathalie Palanque-Delabrouille