Speaker
Description
In this talk we will look at a modification to the standard reionization history through the lens of a model for the optical depth ($\tau$) that is motivated by the recent results by JWST, which find sources of ionizing photons at redshifts larger than ever observed before. By using this JWST-driven model, which allows for a “bumpy” reionization history that pushes $\tau$ to higher values as opposed to CMB measurements, we will test whether one can restore consistency between the constraints on $\tau$ found by Planck and JWST. In addition, by taking advantage of the direct correlation between the optical depth and the total neutrinos mass ($\Sigma m_{\nu}$), we will test whether the constraints on $\Sigma m_{\nu}$ found by DESI can be relaxed to be once again consistent with the results on the same parameter measured by neutrino oscillation experiments.