A study of fundamental limitations to statistical detection of redshifted H I from the Epoch of Reionization

Thyagarajan, Nithyanandan ; Udaya Shankar, N. ; Subrahmanyan, Ravi ; Arcus, Wayne ; Bernardi, Gianni ; Bowman, Judd D. ; Briggs, Frank ; Bunton, John D. ; Cappallo, Roger J. ; Corey, Brian E. ; deSouza, Ludi ; Emrich, David ; Gaensler, Bryan M. ; Goeke, Robert F. ; Greenhill, Lincoln J. ; Hazelton, Bryna J. ; Herne, David ; Hewitt, Jacqueline N. ; Johnston-Hollitt, Melanie ; Kaplan, David L. ; Kasper, Justin C. ; Kincaid, Barton B. ; Koenig, Ronald ; Kratzenberg, Eric ; Lonsdale, Colin J. ; Lynch, Mervyn J. ; McWhirter, S. Russell ; Mitchell, Daniel A. ; Morales, Miguel F. ; Morgan, Edward H. ; Oberoi, Divya ; Ord, Stephen M. ; Pathikulangara, Joseph ; Remillard, Ronald A. ; Rogers, Alan E. E. ; Roshi, D. Anish ; Salah, Joseph E. ; Sault, Robert J. ; Srivani, K. S. ; Stevens, Jamie B. ; Thiagaraj, Prabu ; Tingay, Steven J. ; Wayth, Randall B. ; Waterson, Mark ; Webster, Rachel L. ; Whitney, Alan R. ; Williams, Andrew J. ; Williams, Christopher L. ; Wyithe, J. Stuart B. (2013) A study of fundamental limitations to statistical detection of redshifted H I from the Epoch of Reionization The Astrophysical Journal, 776 (1). Article ID 6-17 pages. ISSN 0004-637X

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Official URL: http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/0004-637...

Related URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/776/1/6

Abstract

In this paper, we explore for the first time the relative magnitudes of three fundamental sources of uncertainty, namely, foreground contamination, thermal noise, and sample variance, in detecting the H I power spectrum from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). We derive limits on the sensitivity of a Fourier synthesis telescope to detect EoR based on its array configuration and a statistical representation of images made by the instrument. We use the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) configuration for our studies. Using a unified framework for estimating signal and noise components in the H I power spectrum, we derive an expression for and estimate the contamination from extragalactic point-like sources in three-dimensional k-space. Sensitivity for EoR H I power spectrum detection is estimated for different observing modes with MWA. With 1000 hr of observing on a single field using the 128 tile MWA, EoR detection is feasible (S/N >1 for k ≲ 0.8 Mpc–1). Bandpass shaping and refinements to the EoR window are found to be effective in containing foreground contamination, which makes the instrument tolerant to imaging errors. We find that for a given observing time, observing many independent fields of view does not offer an advantage over a single field observation when thermal noise dominates over other uncertainties in the derived power spectrum.

Item Type:Article
Source:Copyright of this article belongs to American Astronomical Society.
Keywords:Dark Ages; Reionization; First Stars – Large-Scale Structure Of Universe – Methods: Statistical – Radio Continuum: Galaxies – Radio Lines: General – Techniques: Interferometric
ID Code:114261
Deposited On:21 May 2018 06:03
Last Modified:21 May 2018 06:03

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