Academic Journal
First upper limits on the 21-cm signal power spectrum of neutral hydrogen at z = 9.16 from the LOFAR 3C196 field
| Title: | First upper limits on the 21-cm signal power spectrum of neutral hydrogen at z = 9.16 from the LOFAR 3C196 field |
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| Authors: | Ceccotti, E., Offringa, A. R., Mertens, F. G., Koopmans, L. V.E., Munshi, S., Chege, J. K., Acharya, A., Brackenhoff, S. A., Chapman, E., Ciardi, B., Ghara, R., Ghosh, S., Giri, Sambit K., 1993, Höfer, C., Hothi, I., Mellema, G., Mevius, M., Pandey, V. N., Zaroubi, S. |
| Source: | Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. 544(1):1255-1283 |
| Subject Terms: | cosmology: observations, dark ages, reionization, first stars, methods: data analysis, techniques: interferometric |
| Description: | The redshifted 21-cm signal of neutral hydrogen from the epoch of reionization (EoR) can potentially be detected using lowfrequency radio instruments such as the Low-Frequency Array (LOFAR). So far, LOFAR upper limits on the 21-cm signal power spectrum have been published using a single target field: the North Celestial Pole (NCP). In this work, we analyse and provide upper limits for the 3C 196 field, observed by LOFAR, with a strong ≈80 Jy source in the centre. This field offers advantages such as higher sensitivity due to zenith-crossing observations and reduced geostationary radio-frequency interference, but also poses challenges due to the presence of the bright central source. After constructing a wide-field sky model, we process a single 6-h night of 3C 196 observations using direction-independent and direction-dependent calibration, followed by a residual foreground subtraction with a machine learning Gaussian processregression (ML-GPR). A bias correction is necessary to account for signal suppression in the GPR step. Still, even after this correction, the upper limits are a factor of 2 lower than previous single-night NCP results, with a lowest 2σ upper limit of (146.61 mK) 2 at redshift z = 9.16 and wavenumber k = 0.078 h cMpc−1 (with dk/k ≈ 0.3). The results also reveal an excess power, different in behaviour from that observed in the NCP field, suggesting a potential residual foreground origin. In future work, the use of multiple nights of 3C 196 observations combined with improvements to sky modelling and ML-GPR to avoid the need for bias correction should provide tighter constraints per unit observing time than the NCP. |
| File Description: | |
| Access URL: | https://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kth:diva-373340 https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/staf1629 |
| Database: | SwePub |
| ISSN: | 00358711 13652966 |
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| DOI: | 10.1093/mnras/staf1629 |