One of the key science goals for the most sensitive telescopes, both current and upcoming, is the detection of the redshifted 21-cm signal from the Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionization. The success of detection relies on accurate foreground modeling for their removal from data sets. This paper presents the characterization of astrophysical sources in the Lockman Hole region. Using 325 MHz data obtained from the GMRT, a $6^\circ \times 6^\circ$ mosaiced map is produced with an RMS reaching 50 $μ$Jy $\mathrm{beam}^{-1}$. A source catalog containing 6186 sources is created, and the Euclidean normalized differential source counts have been derived from it, consistent with previous observations as well as simulations. A detailed comparison of the source catalog is also made with previous findings - at both lower and higher frequencies. The angular power spectrum (APS) of the diffuse Galactic synchrotron emission is determined for three different galactic latitudes using the Tapered Gridded Estimator. The values of the APS lie between $\sim$1 mK$^2$ to $\sim$100 mK$^2$. Fitting a power law of the form $A\ell^{-β}$ gives values of $A$ and $β$ varying across the latitudes considered. This paper demonstrates, for the first time, the variation of the power-law index for diffuse emission at very high galactic locations. It follows the same trend that is seen at locations near the galactic plane, thus emphasizing the need for low-frequency observations for developing better models of the diffuse emission.
The overwhelming foreground contamination hinders the accurate detection of the 21-cm signal of neutral hydrogen during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). Among various foreground components, the Galactic free-free emission is less studied, so that its impact on the EoR observations remains unclear. In this work, we employ the observed $\rm Hα$ intensity map with the correction of dust absorption and scattering, the Simfast21 software, and the latest SKA1-Low layout configuration to simulate the SKA "observed" images of Galactic free-free emission and the EoR signal. By calculating the one-dimen…
The primary challenge for experiments measuring the neutral hydrogen power spectrum from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) are mode-mixing effects where foregrounds from very bright astrophysical sources interact with the instrument to contaminate the EoR signal. In this paper we identify a new type of mode-mixing that occurs when measurements from non-identical baselines are combined for increased power spectrum sensitivity. This multi-baseline effect dominates the mode-mixing power in our simulations and can contaminate the EoR window, an area in Fourier space previously identified to be relat…
Numerous studies have established the theoretical potential of the 21cm bispectrum to boost our understanding of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR), and therefore early generation of stars and galaxies. In this paper we look at the impact of foregrounds and instrumental effects on the 21cm bispectrum and our ability to measure it. Unlike the power spectrum for which (in the absence of instrumental effects) there is a window clear of smooth-spectrum foregrounds in which the 21cm power spectrum may be detectable, there is no such "EoR window" for the bispectrum. Instead, on smaller scales EoR struc…
We introduce a new implementation of the FastICA algorithm on simulated LOFAR EoR data with the aim of accurately removing the foregrounds and extracting the 21-cm reionization signal. We find that the method successfully removes the foregrounds with an average fitting error of 0.5 per cent and that the 2D and 3D power spectra are recovered across the frequency range. We find that for scales above several PSF scales the 21-cm variance is successfully recovered though there is evidence of noise leakage into the reconstructed foreground components. We find that this blind independent component a…
The overwhelming foreground contamination is one of the primary impediments to probing the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) through measuring the redshifted 21 cm signal. Among various foreground components, radio halos are less studied and their impacts on the EoR observations are still poorly understood. In this work, we employ the Press-Schechter formalism, merger-induced turbulent re-acceleration model, and the latest SKA1-Low layout configuration to simulate the SKA "observed" images of radio halos. We calculate the one-dimensional power spectra from simulated images and find that radio halos …
We review an improved statistical model of extra-galactic point-source foregrounds first introduced in [Murray 2017], in the context of the Epoch of Reionization. This model extends the instrumentally-convolved foreground covariance used in inverse-covariance foreground mitigation schemes, by considering the cosmological clustering of the sources. In this short work, we show that over scales of $k \sim (0.6, 40.) h {\rm Mpc}^{-1}$, ignoring source clustering is a valid approximation. This is in contrast to [Murray 2017], who found a possibility of false detection if the clustering was ignored.…
We construct foreground simulations comprising spatially correlated extragalactic and diffuse Galactic emission components and calculate the `intrinsic' (instrument-free) two-dimensional spatial power spectrum and the cylindrically and spherically averaged three-dimensional k-space power spectra of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) and our foreground simulations using a Bayesian power spectral estimation framework. This leads us to identify a model dependent region of optimal signal estimation for our foreground and EoR models, within which the spatial power in the EoR signal relative to foregro…
The removal of the Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds remains a major challenge for those wishing to make a detection of the Epoch of Reionization 21-cm signal. Multiple methods of modelling these foregrounds with varying levels of assumption have been trialled and shown promising recoveries on simulated data. Recently however there has been increased discussion of using the expected shape of the foregrounds in Fourier space to define an EoR window free of foreground contamination. By carrying out analysis within this window only, one can avoid the foregrounds and any statistical bias they…
It is seen that foregrounds of 21cm Epoch of Reionization experiments, which are expected to have smooth spectral dependence, are dominant in a wedge shaped region of the Fourier space called as Foreground Wedge. A possible way forward to isolate the 21cm Epoch of Reionization (EoR) signal from the much larger foreground component is to focus on the remaining portion of the Fourier space called as the EoR window. There are in-fact three distinct regions in the Fourier space, (i) the Foreground wedge portion, (ii) the EoR window region which lies beyond Horizon wedge and (iii) the region in bet…
Experiments designed to measure the redshifted 21~cm line from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) are challenged by strong astrophysical foreground contamination, ionospheric distortions, complex instrumental response and other different types of noise (e.g. radio frequency interference). The astrophysical foregrounds are dominated by diffuse synchrotron emission from our Galaxy. Here we present a simulation of the Galactic emission used as a foreground module for the LOFAR- EoR key science project end-to-end simulations. The simulation produces total and polarized intensity over $10^\circ \times…
There are several planned and ongoing experiments designed to explore the Epoch of Reionization (EoR), the pivotal period during which the gas in the intergalactic medium went from being entirely neutral to almost entirely ionized. These experiments will probe the EoR, through the redshifted 21 cm line from neutral hydrogen, using radio arrays: e.g. Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) and Murchinson Widefield Array (MWA). Unfortunately however, the cosmological 21 cm signal is highly contaminated by astrophysical foregrounds and by non-astrophysical and instrumental effects. Therefore, to reliably det…
Current-generation low frequency interferometers constructed with the objective of detecting the high-redshift 21 cm background, aim to generate power spectra of the brightness-temperature contrast of neutral hydrogen in primordial intergalactic medium. Two-dimensional power spectra (power in Fourier modes parallel and perpendicular to the line of sight) formed from interferometric visibilities have been shown to delineate a boundary between spectrally-smooth foregrounds (known as the wedge) and spectrally-structured 21 cm background emission (the EoR-window). However, polarized foregrounds ar…
Cosmic baryon evolution during the Cosmic Dawn and Reionization results in redshifted 21-cm spectral distortions in the cosmic microwave background (CMB). These encode information about the nature and timing of first sources over redshifts 30-6 and appear at meter wavelengths as a tiny CMB distortion along with the Galactic and extragalactic radio sky, which is orders of magnitude brighter. Therefore, detection requires precise methods to model foregrounds. We present a method of foreground fitting using maximally smooth (MS) functions. We demonstrate the usefulness of MS functions over tradit…
We present new observations with the Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER) with the aim of measuring the properties of foreground emission for 21cm Epoch of Reionization experiments at 150 MHz. We focus on the footprint of the foregrounds in cosmological Fourier space to understand which modes of the 21cm power spectrum will most likely be compromised by foreground emission. These observations confirm predictions that foregrounds can be isolated to a "wedge"-like region of 2D (k-perpendicular, k-parallel)-space, creating a window for cosmological studies at higher k-par…
For there to be a successful measurement of the 21 cm Epoch of Reionization (EoR) power spectrum, it is crucial that strong foreground contaminants be robustly suppressed. These foregrounds come from a variety of sources (such as Galactic synchrotron emission and extragalactic point sources), but almost all share the property of being spectrally smooth, and when viewed through the chromatic response of an interferometer, occupy a signature "wedge" region in cylindrical $k_\perp k_\parallel$ Fourier space. The complement of the foreground wedge is termed the "EoR window", and is expected to be …
The power spectrum of redshifted 21 cm emission brightness temperature fluctuations is a powerful probe of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). However, bright foreground emission presents a significant impediment to its unbiased recovery from interferometric data. We build on the Bayesian power spectral estimation methodology introduced in Sims et al. 2016 and demonstrate that incorporating a priori knowledge of the spectral structure of foregrounds in the large spectral scale component of the data model enables significantly improved modelling of the foregrounds without increasing the model comp…
A critical challenge in the observation of the redshifted 21-cm line is its separation from bright Galactic and extragalactic foregrounds. In particular, the instrumental leakage of polarized foregrounds, which undergo significant Faraday rotation as they propagate through the interstellar medium, may harmfully contaminate the 21-cm power spectrum. We develop a formalism to describe the leakage due to instrumental widefield effects in visibility-based power spectra measured with redundant arrays, extending the delay-spectrum approach presented in Parsons et al. (2012). We construct polarized s…
Unaccounted for systematics from foregrounds and instruments can severely limit the sensitivity of current experiments from detecting redshifted 21~cm signals from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). Upcoming experiments are faced with a challenge to deliver more collecting area per antenna element without degrading the data with systematics. This paper and its companions show that dishes are viable for achieving this balance using the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA) as an example. Here, we specifically identify spectral systematics associated with the antenna power pattern as a signi…
Interplanetary Scintillation (IPS) induces intensity fluctuations in small angular size astronomical radio sources via the distortive effects of spatially and temporally varying electron density associated with outflows from the Sun. These radio sources are a potential foreground contaminant signal for redshifted HI emission from the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) because they yield time-dependent flux density variations in bright extragalactic point sources. Contamination from foreground continuum sources complicates efforts to discriminate the cosmological signal from other sources in the sky. …
One of the primary challenges in enabling the scientific potential of 21 cm intensity mapping at the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) is the separation of astrophysical foreground contamination. Recent works have claimed that Gaussian process regression (GPR) can robustly perform this separation, particularly at low Fourier $k$ wavenumbers where the signal reaches its peak signal-to-noise ratio. We revisit this topic by casting GPR foreground subtraction (GPR-FS) into the quadratic estimator formalism, thereby putting its statistical properties on stronger theoretical footing. We find that GPR-FS c…
Detecting cosmological signals from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) requires high-precision calibration to isolate the cosmological signals from foreground emission. In radio interferometery, perturbed primary beams of antenna elements can disrupt the precise calibration, which results in contaminating the foreground-free region, or the EoR window, in the cylindrically averaged power spectrum. For Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA), we simulate and characterize the perturbed primary beams induced by feed motions such as axial, lateral, and tilting motions, above the 14-meter dish. To …
Experiments aimed at detecting highly-redshifted 21 centimeter emission from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) are plagued by the contamination of foreground emission. A potentially important source of contaminating foregrounds may be Faraday-rotated, polarized emission, which leaks into the estimate of the intrinsically unpolarized EoR signal. While these foregrounds' intrinsic polarization may not be problematic, the spectral structure introduced by the Faraday rotation could be. To better understand and characterize these effects, we present a simulation of the polarized sky between 120 and 1…
We present a new upper limit to the 21cm power spectrum during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) which constrains reionization models with an unheated IGM. The GMRT-EoR experiment is an ongoing effort to make a statistical detection of the power spectrum of 21cm neutral hydrogen emission at redshift z~9. Data from this redshift constrain models of the EoR, the end of the Dark Ages arising from the formation of the first bright UV sources, probably stars or mini-quasars. We present results from approximately 50 hours of observations at the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope in India from December 20…
School of Physics and Astronomy, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学物理与天文学院）；Tsung-Dao Lee Institute / IFSA Collaborative Innovation Center, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学李政道研究所/上海交通大学国际与交叉科学研究院协同创新中心）；Department of Electronic Engineering, Shanghai Jiao Tong University（上海交通大学电子工程系）；Department of Statistics, Northwestern University（西北大学统计系）；National Astronomical Observatories, Chinese Academy of Sciences（中国科学院国家天文台）
When applying the foreground removal methods to uncover the faint cosmological signal from the epoch of reionization (EoR), the foreground spectra are assumed to be smooth. However, this assumption can be seriously violated in practice since the unresolved or mis-subtracted foreground sources, which are further complicated by the frequency-dependent beam effects of interferometers, will generate significant fluctuations along the frequency dimension. To address this issue, we propose a novel deep-learning-based method that uses a 9-layer convolutional denoising autoencoder (CDAE) to separate t…
Cross-correlation between the redshifted 21 cm signal and Lyman-α emitters (LAEs) is powerful tool to probe the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). Although the cross-power spectrum (PS) has an advantage of not correlating with foregrounds much brighter than the 21 cm signal, the galactic and extra-galactic foregrounds prevent detection since they contribute to the variance of the cross PS. Therefore, strategies for mitigating foregrounds are required. In this work, we study the impact of foreground avoidance on the measurement of the 21 cm-LAE cross-correlation. We then simulate the 21 cm observatio…
A possible way to disentangle the redshifted 21 cm signal of neutral hydrogen (HI) in the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) from the much larger astrophysical foregrounds is to restrict the analysis to a wedge-shaped region in the Fourier space. The foregrounds are confined to this wedge because of their smooth spectral properties which allows one to estimate the HI power spectrum in the foreground-free portion, known as the reionization window. The estimate of the spherically averaged power spectrum in the window, however, differs from the true value because of the line of sight anisotropies in the…
Studying the spatial distribution of extragalactic source populations is vital in understanding the matter distribution in the Universe. It also enables understanding the cosmological evolution of dark matter density fields and the relationship between dark matter and luminous matter. Clustering studies are also required for EoR foreground studies since it affects the relevant angular scales. This paper investigates the angular and spatial clustering properties and the bias parameter of radio-selected sources in the Lockman Hole field at 325 MHz. The data probes sources with fluxes $\gtrsim$0.…
Generative Models of 21cm EoR Lightcones with 3D Scattering Transforms
Laboratoire de Physique de l’ENS, ENS, Université PSL, CNRS, Sorbonne Université, Universitée Paris Cité（巴黎高等师范学院物理实验室）；LERMA, Observatoire de Paris, PSL Research University, CNRS, Sorbonne Université（巴黎天文台天体物理学与分子化学研究实验室）；Department of Physics, Blackett Laboratory, Imperial College London（伦敦帝国理工学院黑特物理实验室）
We compare various foreground removal techniques that are being utilised to remove bright foregrounds in various experiments aiming to detect the redshifted 21cm signal of neutral hydrogen from the Epoch of Reionization. In this work, we test the performance of removal techniques (FastICA, GMCA, and GPR) on 10 nights of LOFAR data and investigate the possibility of recovering the latest upper limit on the 21cm signal. Interestingly, we find that GMCA and FastICA reproduce the most recent 2$σ$ upper limit of $Δ^2_{21} <$ (73)$^2$ mK$^2$ at $k=0.075~ h \mathrm{cMpc}^{-1}$, which resulted from th…
The redshifted 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen is a promising probe of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). However, its detection requires a thorough understanding and control of the systematic errors. We study two systematic biases observed in the LOFAR EoR residual data after calibration and subtraction of bright discrete foreground sources. The first effect is a suppression in the diffuse foregrounds, which could potentially mean a suppression of the 21 cm signal. The second effect is an excess of noise beyond the thermal noise. The excess noise shows fluctuations on small frequency scales, and…
The redshifted cosmological 21 cm signal emitted by neutral hydrogen during the first billion years of the universe is much fainter relative to other galactic and extragalactic radio emissions, posing a great challenge towards detection of the signal. Therefore, precise instrumental calibration is a vital prerequisite for the success of radio interferometers such as the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), which aim for a 21 cm detection. Over the previous years, novel calibration techniques targeting the power spectrum paradigm of EoR science have been actively researched and where possible imple…
We present a sophisticated statistical point-source foreground model for low-frequency radio Epoch of Reionization (EoR) experiments using the 21 cm neutral hydrogen emission line. Motivated by our understanding of the low-frequency radio sky, we enhance the realism of two model components compared with existing models: the source count distributions as a function of flux density and spatial position (source clustering), extending current formalisms for the foreground covariance of 2D power spectral modes in 21 cm EoR experiments. The former we generalise to an arbitrarily broken power-law, an…
One of the principal systematic constraints on the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) experiment is the accuracy of the foreground calibration model. Recent results have shown that highly accurate models of extended foreground sources, and including models for sources in both the primary beam and its sidelobes, are necessary for reducing foreground power. To improve the accuracy of the source models for the EoR fields observed by the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), we conducted the MWA Long Baseline Epoch of Reionisation Survey (LoBES). This survey consists of multi-frequency observations of the mai…
21cm tomography opens a window to directly study astrophysics and fundamental physics of early epochs in our Universe's history, the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) and Cosmic Dawn (CD). Summary statistics such as the power spectrum omit information encoded in this signal due to its highly non-Gaussian nature. Here we adopt a network-based approach for direct inference of CD and EoR astrophysics jointly with fundamental physics from 21cm tomography. We showcase a warm dark matter (WDM) universe, where dark matter density parameter $Ω_\mathrm{m}$ and WDM mass $m_\mathrm{WDM}$ strongly influence bot…
We perform a Fisher analysis to estimate the expected constraints on the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) model parameters (i.e., minimum virial temperature, the ionizing efficiency and the mean free path of ionizing photons) taking into account the thermal noise of the exisitting telescopes, MWA and LOFAR. We consider how the inclusion of the 21cm bispectrum improves the constraints compared to using the power spectrum alone. Assuming that we perfectly remove the foreground, we found that the bispectrum, which is calculated by the 21cmFAST code, can constrain the EoR model parameters more tightly …
We present a halo-model-based approach to calculate the cross-correlation between $\rm{21\,cm}$ HI intensity fluctuations and $\rm{Ly}α$ emitters (LAE) during the epoch of reionization (EoR). Ionizing radiation around dark matter halos are modeled as bubbles with the size and growth determined based on the reionization photon production, among other physical parameters. The cross-correlation shows a clear negative-to-positive transition, associated with transition from ionized to neutral hydrogen in the intergalactic medium during EoR. The cross-correlation is subject to several foreground con…
We introduce a new method for performing robust Bayesian estimation of the three-dimensional spatial power spectrum at the Epoch of Reionization (EoR), from interferometric observations. The versatility of this technique allows us to present two approaches. First, when the observations span only a small number of independent spatial frequencies ($k$-modes) we sample directly from the spherical power spectrum coefficients that describe the EoR signal realisation. Second, when the number of $k$-modes to be included in the model becomes large, we sample from the joint probability density of the s…
The redshifted 21-cm radiation from the atomic hydrogen (HI) provides an excellent direct probe to study the evolution of HI in IGM and thus reveal the nature of the first luminous objects, their evolution and role during Cosmic Dawn (CD) and Epoch of Reionization (EoR), and formation and evolution of the structures thereafter. Direct mapping of the HI density during the CD-EoR is rather difficult with the current and future instruments due to large foreground and other observational contamination. The first detection of this redshifted HI signal is planned through statistical estimators. Give…
Detection of the Epoch of Reionization HI signal requires a precise understanding of the intervening galaxies and AGN, both for instrumental calibration and foreground removal. We present a catalogue of 7394 extragalactic sources at 182 MHz detected in the RA=0 field of the Murchison Widefield Array Epoch of Reionization observation programme. Motivated by unprecedented requirements for precision and reliability we develop new methods for source finding and selection. We apply machine learning methods to self-consistently classify the relative reliability of 9490 source candidates. A subset of…
21 cm Epoch of Reionization observations promise to transform our understanding of galaxy formation, but these observations are impossible without unprecedented levels of instrument calibration. We present end-to-end simulations of a full EoR power spectrum analysis including all of the major components of a real data processing pipeline: models of astrophysical foregrounds and EoR signal, frequency-dependent instrument effects, sky-based antenna calibration, and the full PS analysis. This study reveals that traditional sky-based per-frequency antenna calibration can only be implemented in EoR…
Experiments that pursue detection of signals from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) are relying on spectral smoothness of source spectra at low frequencies. This article empirically explores the effect of foreground spectra on EoR experiments by measuring high-resolution full-polarization spectra for the 586 brightest unresolved sources in one of the MWA EoR fields using 45 h of observation. A novel peeling scheme is used to subtract 2500 sources from the visibilities with ionospheric and beam corrections, resulting in the deepest, confusion-limited MWA image so far. The resulting spectra are fo…
One of the aims of the Low Frequency Array (LOFAR) Epoch of Reionization (EoR) project is to measure the power spectrum of variations in the intensity of redshifted 21-cm radiation from the EoR. The sensitivity with which this power spectrum can be estimated depends on the level of thermal noise and sample variance, and also on the systematic errors arising from the extraction process, in particular from the subtraction of foreground contamination. We model the extraction process using realistic simulations of the cosmological signal, the foregrounds and noise, and so estimate the sensitivity …
The Bayesian Global Sky Model (B-GSM): Validation of a Data Driven Bayesian Simultaneous Component Separation and Calibration Algorithm for EoR Foreground Modelling
The large-scale structure of the Universe should soon be measured at high redshift during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) through line-intensity mapping. A number of ongoing and planned surveys are using the 21 cm line to trace neutral hydrogen fluctuations in the intergalactic medium (IGM) during the EoR. These may be fruitfully combined with separate efforts to measure large-scale emission fluctuations from galactic lines such as [CII], CO, H-$α$, and Ly-$α$ during the same epoch. The large scale power spectrum of each line encodes important information about reionization, with the 21 cm pow…
As observations of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) in redshifted 21cm emission begin, we asses the accuracy of the early catalog results from the Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER) and the Murchison Widefield Array. The MWA EoR approach derives much of its sensitivity from subtracting foregrounds to <1% precision while the PAPER approach relies on the stability and symmetry of the primary beam. Both require an accurate flux calibration to set the amplitude of the measured power spectrum. The two instruments are very similar in resolution, sensitivity, sky coverage an…
Foregrounds with polarization states that are not smooth functions of frequency present a challenge to HI Epoch of Reionization (EoR) power spectrum measurements if they are not cleanly separated from the desired Stokes I signal. The intrinsic polarization impurity of an antenna's electromagnetic response limits the degree to which components of the polarization state on the sky can be separated from one another, leading to the possibility that this frequency structure could be confused for HI emission. We investigate the potential of Faraday rotation by the Earth's ionosphere to provide a mec…
Detecting a signal from the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) requires an exquisite understanding of galactic and extra-galactic foregrounds, low frequency radio instruments, instrumental calibration, and data analysis pipelines. In this work we build upon existing work that aims to understand the impact of calibration errors on 21-cm power spectrum (PS) measurements. It is well established that calibration errors have the potential to inhibit EoR detections by introducing additional spectral features that mimic the structure of EoR signals. We present a straightforward way to estimate the impact of…
The global neutral hydrogen 21 cm signal extracted from the all-sky averaged radio spectra is one of the signatures of the Cosmic Dawn and Epoch of Reionization (CD/EoR). The frequency-dependency of antenna beam patterns coupled with the strong foreground emission could introduce artificial spectral structures and cause false detection. A digital beamforming array could be potentially employed to form achromatic station beam patterns to overcome this problem. In this work, we discuss the method of forming achromatic beam patterns with a dense regular beamforming array to detect the global CD/E…
The near-infrared background between 0.5 $μ$m to 2 $μ$m contains a wealth of information related to radiative processes in the universe. Infrared background anisotropies encode the redshift-weighted total emission over cosmic history, including any spatially diffuse and extended contributions. The anisotropy power spectrum is dominated by undetected galaxies at small angular scales and diffuse background of Galactic emission at large angular scales. In addition to these known sources, the infrared background also arises from intra-halo light (IHL) at $z < 3$ associated with tidally-stripped st…
Direct detection of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) via the red-shifted 21-cm line will have unprecedented implications on the study of structure formation in the infant Universe. To fulfill this promise, current and future 21-cm experiments need to detect this weak EoR signal in the presence of foregrounds that are several orders of magnitude larger. This requires extreme noise control and improved wide-field high dynamic-range imaging techniques. We propose a new imaging method based on a maximum likelihood framework which solves for the interferometric equation directly on the sphere, or eq…
We explore methods for robust estimation of the 21 cm signal from the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR). A Kernel Density Estimator (KDE) is introduced for measuring the spatial temperature fluctuation power spectrum from the EoR. The KDE estimates the underlying probability distribution function of fluctuations as a function of spatial scale, and contains different systematic biases and errors to the typical approach to estimating the fluctuation power spectrum. Extraction of histograms of visibilities allows moments analysis to be used to discriminate foregrounds from 21 cm signal and thermal nois…
