Title: Reconciling Neutrino Mass Bounds with Strongly Self-Interacting Dark Radiation
Abstract: Cosmological measurements have dramatically improved, with recent constraints on neutrino masses (Σmν < 0.0642 eV from Planck + DESI-II BAO) approaching the lower bounds required by neutrino oscillation experiments. While not yet in tension for normal hierarchy, the viable parameter space is rapidly shrinking. Simultaneously, cosmological data shows preference for strongly self-interacting neutrinos—a property severely constrained by laboratory experiments. We present a mechanism exploiting cosmology's inability to distinguish between neutrinos and similarly-behaving dark radiation, potentially addressing this narrowing gap and other cosmological puzzles.
Biography：Prof. Christina (Yang) Gao is an assistant professor at the Southern University of Science and Technology,where she leads a research group at the forefront of theoretical particle physics. Her group focuses on the direct detection of dark matter and the search for physics beyond the Standard Model. She explores novel methods using quantum systems and astronomical data,and also investigates dark matter-neutrino interactions and machine learning applications.She received her Ph.D. from UC Davis after completing her undergraduate and master's studies at the University of Oxford. Prior to joining SUSTech,she conducted postdoctoral research at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign and Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory (Fermilab).