Thursday, November 6, 2025

Why Does Cosmology Give Us A Negative Neutrino Mass As A Best Fit Value?

The apparent preference for a best fit value of the neutrino masses from cosmology measurements is probably a matter of some fine methodological adjustments that weren't made for gravitational lensing.
Recent analyses combining cosmic microwave background (CMB) and baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) challenge particle physics constraints on the total neutrino mass, pointing to values smaller than the lower limit from neutrino oscillation experiments. To examine the impact of different CMB likelihoods from Planck, lensing potential measurements from Planck and ACT, and BAO data from DESI, we introduce an effective neutrino mass parameter (∑m̃ ν) which is allowed to take negative values. 
We investigate its correlation with two extra parameters capturing the impact of gravitational lensing on the CMB: one controlling the smoothing of the peaks of the temperature and polarization power spectra; one rescaling the lensing potential amplitude. In this configuration, we infer ∑m̃ ν=−0.018+0.085−0.089 eV (68% C.L.), which is fully consistent with the minimal value required by neutrino oscillation experiments. 
We attribute the apparent preference for negative neutrino masses to an excess of gravitational lensing detected by late-time cosmological probes compared to that inferred from Planck CMB angular power spectra. We discuss implications in light of the DESI BAO measurements and the CMB lensing anomaly.
Andrea Cozzumbo, et al., "A short blanket for cosmology: the CMB lensing anomaly behind the preference for a negative neutrino mass" arXiv:2511.01967 (November 3, 2025).

2 comments:

neo said...

Relativistic MOND Theory from Modified Entropic Gravity

Authors: A. Rostami, K. Rezazadeh, M. Rostampour

Abstract: We derive a relativistic extension of Modified Newtonian Dynamics (MOND) within the framework of entropic gravity by introducing temperature-dependent corrections to the equipartition law on a holographic screen. Starting from a Debye-like modification of the surface degrees of freedom and employing the Unruh relation between acceleration and temperature, we obtain modified Einstein equations in which the geometric sector acquires explicit thermal corrections. Solving these equations for a static, spherically symmetric spacetime in the weak-field, low-temperature regime yields a corrected metric that smoothly approaches Minkowski space at large radii and naturally contains a characteristic acceleration scale. In the very-low-acceleration regime, the model reproduces MOND-like deviations from Newtonian dynamics while providing a relativistic underpinning for that phenomenology. We confront the theory with rotation-curve data for NGC~3198 and perform a Bayesian parameter inference, comparing our relativistic MOND (RMOND) model with both a baryons-only Newtonian model and a dark-matter halo model. We find that RMOND and the dark-matter model both fit the data significantly better than the baryons-only Newtonian prediction, and that RMOND provides particularly improved agreement at . These results suggest that temperature-corrected entropic gravity provides a viable relativistic framework for MOND phenomenology, motivating further observational tests, including gravitational lensing and extended galaxy samples. △ Less

Submitted 7 November, 2025; originally announced November 2025.

andrew said...

Thanks for the heads up.