Robust Extraction of Global 21 cm Spectrum from Experiments with a Chromatic Beam Based on Physics-Motivated Error Modeling

Fuente: arXiv
Salvato in:
Dettagli Bibliografici
Autori principali: Li, Haoran, Deng, Furen, Zhou, Meng, Xu, Yidong, Chen, Xuelei
Natura: Preprint
Pubblicazione: 2025
Soggetti:
Accesso online:
Tags: Aggiungi Tag
Nessun Tag, puoi essere il primo ad aggiungerne!!
_version_ 1866918238707777536
author Li, Haoran
Deng, Furen
Zhou, Meng
Xu, Yidong
Chen, Xuelei
author_facet Li, Haoran
Deng, Furen
Zhou, Meng
Xu, Yidong
Chen, Xuelei
contents The extraction of the sky-averaged 21 cm signal from Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionization faces significant challenges. The bright and anisotropic Galactic foreground, which is 4 - 5 orders of magnitude brighter than the 21 cm signal, when convolved with the inevitably chromatic beam, introduces additional spectral structures that can easily mimic the real 21 cm signal. In this paper, we investigate the signal extraction for a lunar-orbit experiment, where the antenna moves fast in orbit and data from multiple orbits have to be used. We propose a physics-motivated and correlated modeling of both the foreground and the measurement errors. By dividing the sky into multiple regions according to the spectral index distribution and accounting for the full covariance of modeling errors, we jointly fit both the foreground and the 21 cm signal using simulated data for the Discovering the Sky at the Longest wavelength lunar orbit experiment. This method successfully extracts the 21 cm signals of various amplitudes from the simulated data even for a testing antenna with a relatively high level of chromaticity. This approach, which is robust against moderate beam chromaticity, significantly relaxes the stringent design and manufacturing requirements for the antenna, offering a practical solution for future 21 cm global signal experiments either on the ground or in space.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2507_13102
institution arXiv
publishDate 2025
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Robust Extraction of Global 21 cm Spectrum from Experiments with a Chromatic Beam Based on Physics-Motivated Error Modeling
Li, Haoran
Deng, Furen
Zhou, Meng
Xu, Yidong
Chen, Xuelei
Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
The extraction of the sky-averaged 21 cm signal from Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionization faces significant challenges. The bright and anisotropic Galactic foreground, which is 4 - 5 orders of magnitude brighter than the 21 cm signal, when convolved with the inevitably chromatic beam, introduces additional spectral structures that can easily mimic the real 21 cm signal. In this paper, we investigate the signal extraction for a lunar-orbit experiment, where the antenna moves fast in orbit and data from multiple orbits have to be used. We propose a physics-motivated and correlated modeling of both the foreground and the measurement errors. By dividing the sky into multiple regions according to the spectral index distribution and accounting for the full covariance of modeling errors, we jointly fit both the foreground and the 21 cm signal using simulated data for the Discovering the Sky at the Longest wavelength lunar orbit experiment. This method successfully extracts the 21 cm signals of various amplitudes from the simulated data even for a testing antenna with a relatively high level of chromaticity. This approach, which is robust against moderate beam chromaticity, significantly relaxes the stringent design and manufacturing requirements for the antenna, offering a practical solution for future 21 cm global signal experiments either on the ground or in space.
title Robust Extraction of Global 21 cm Spectrum from Experiments with a Chromatic Beam Based on Physics-Motivated Error Modeling
topic Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2507.13102