Measuring the cosmological background of relativistic particles with the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe

We show that the first year results of the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) constrain very efficiently the energy density in relativistic particles in the Universe. We derive new bounds on additional relativistic degrees of freedom expressed in terms of an excess in the effective number of light neutrinos ΔNeff. Within the flat {Λ}CDM scenario, the allowed range is ΔNeff<6 (95% confidence level) using WMAP data only, or -2.6<ΔNeff<4 with the prior H₀=72±8kms^-1Mpc^-1. When other cosmic microwave background and large scale structure experiments are taken into account, the window shrinks to -1.6<ΔNeff<3.8. These results are in perfect agreement with the bounds from primordial nucleosynthesis. Nonminimal cosmological models with extra relativistic degrees of freedom are now severely restricted.