Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: http://hdl.handle.net/2289/5942
Title: A study of fundamental limitations to statistical detection of redshifted HI from the epoch of reionization.
Authors: Thyagarajan, Nithyanandan
Udaya Shankar, N.
Subrahmanyan, Ravi
Srivani, K.S.
Prabu, T.
+25 Co-authors
Keywords: dark ages
large-scale structure of universe
reionization, first stars
interferometric
Issue Date: 10-Oct-2013
Publisher: IOP Sciences for The American Astronomical Society
Citation: Astrophysical Journal, 2013, Vol.776, p6
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 lsim 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.
Description: Restricted Access
URI: http://hdl.handle.net/2289/5942
ISSN: 0004-637X
1538-4357-(Online)
Alternative Location: http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2013ApJ...776....6T
http://arxiv.org/abs/1308.0565
http://dx.doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/776/1/6
Copyright: 2013 American Astronomical Society, This article may be downloaded for personal use only. Any other use requires prior permission of the author and The American Astronomical Society
Appears in Collections:Research Papers (A&A)

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