Study of redshifted H I from the epoch of reionization with drift scan

Sourabh Paul, Shiv K. Sethi, Ravi Subrahmanyan, N. Udaya Shankar, K. S. Dwarakanath, Avinash A. Deshpande, Gianni Bernardi, Judd Bowman, Frank Briggs, Roger J. Cappallo, Brian E. Corey, David Emrich, Bryan M. Gaensler, Robert F. Goeke, Lincoln J. Greenhill, Bryna J. Hazelton, Jacqueline N. Hewitt, Melanie Johnston-Hollitt, David L. Kaplan, Justin C. KasperEric Kratzenberg, Colin J. Lonsdale, Mervyn J. Lynch, S. Russell McWhirter, Daniel A. Mitchell, Miguel F. Morales, Edward H. Morgan, Divya Oberoi, Stephen M. Ord, Thiagaraj Prabu, Alan E E Rogers, Anish A. Roshi, K. S. Srivani, Steven J. Tingay, Randall B. Wayth, Mark Waterson, Rachel L. Webster, Alan R. Whitney, Andrew J. Williams, Christopher L. Williams

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

9 Scopus citations

Abstract

Detection of the epoch of reionization (EoR) in the redshifted 21 cm line is a challenging task. Here, we formulate the detection of the EoR signal using the drift scan strategy. This method potentially has better instrumental stability compared to the case where a single patch of sky is tracked. We demonstrate that the correlation time between measured visibilities could extend up to 1-2 hr for an interferometer array such as the Murchison Widefield Array, which has a wide primary beam. We estimate the EoR power based on a cross-correlation of visibilities over time and show that the drift scan strategy is capable of detecting the EoR signal with a signal to noise that is comparable/better compared to the tracking case. We also estimate the visibility correlation for a set of bright point sources and argue that the statistical inhomogeneity of bright point sources might allow their separation from the EoR signal.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Article number28
JournalAstrophysical Journal
Volume793
Issue number1
DOIs
StatePublished - Sep 20 2014

Keywords

  • cosmology: observations
  • cosmology: theory
  • dark ages, reionization, first stars
  • techniques: interferometric

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Astronomy and Astrophysics
  • Space and Planetary Science

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