Prospects of Detecting HI using Redshifted 21-cm Radiation at <Emphasis Type="Italic">z</Emphasis>∼3

Distribution of cold gas in the post-reionization era provides an important link between distribution of galaxies and the process of star formation. Redshifted 21-cm radiation from the hyperfine transition of neutral hydrogen allows us to probe the neutral component of cold gas, most of which is to be found in the interstellar medium of galaxies. Existing and upcoming radio telescopes can probe the large scale distribution of neutral hydrogen via HI intensity mapping. In this paper, we use an estimate of the HI power spectrum derived using an ansatz to compute the expected signal from the large scale HI distribution at z～3. We find that the scale dependence of bias at small scales makes a significant difference to the expected signal even at large angular scales. We compare the predicted signal strength with the sensitivity of radio telescopes that can observe such radiation and calculate the observation time required for detecting neutral hydrogen at these redshifts. We find that OWFA (Ooty Wide Field Array) offers the best possibility to detect neutral hydrogen at z～3 before the SKA (Square Kilometer Array) becomes operational. We find that the OWFA should be able to make a 3 σ or a more significant detection in 2000 hours of observations at several angular scales. Calculations done using the Fisher matrix approach indicate that a 5σ detection of the binned HI power spectrum via measurement of the amplitude of the HI power spectrum is possible in 1000 h (Sarkar et al. 2017).     

Fisher Matrix-based Predictions for Measuring the <Emphasis Type="Italic">z</Emphasis> = 3.35 Binned 21-cm Power Spectrum using the Ooty Wide Field Array (OWFA)

We use the Fisher matrix formalism to predict the prospects of measuring the redshifted 21-cm power spectrum in different k-bins using observations with the upcoming Ooty Wide Field Array (OWFA) which will operate at 326.5 MHz. This corresponds to neutral hydrogen (HI) at z = 3.35, and a measurement of the 21-cm power spectrum provides a unique method to probe the large-scale structures at this redshift. Our analysis indicates that a 5σ detection of the binned power spectrum is possible in the k range 0.05 ≤ k ≤ 0.3 Mpc^?1 with 1000 hours of observation. We find that the signal- to-noise ratio (SNR) peaks in the k range 0.1?0.2 Mpc^?1 where a 10σ detection is possible with 2000 hours of observations. Our analysis also indicates that it is not very advantageous to observe beyond 1000 h in a single field-of-view as the SNR increases rather slowly beyond this in many of the small k-bins. The entire analysis reported here assumes that the foregrounds have been completely removed.     

Prospects for Detecting the 326.5 MHz Redshifted 21-cm HI Signal with the Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT)

Observations of the redshifted 21-cm HI fluctuations promise to be an important probe of the post-reionization era (z≤ 6). In this paper we calculate the expected signal and foregrounds for the upgraded Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT) which operates at frequency ν _o = 326.5 MHz which corresponds to redshift z = 3.35. Assuming that the visibilities contain only the HI signal and system noise, we show that a 3 σ detection of the HI signal (～1 mK) is possible at angular scales 11^′ to 3^° with ≈1000 h of observation. Foreground removal is one of the major challenges for a statistical detection of the redshifted 21 cm HI signal. We assess the contribution of different foregrounds and find that the 326.5 MHz sky is dominated by the extragalactic point sources at the angular scales of our interest. The expected total foregrounds are 10⁴?10⁵ times higher than the HI signal.     

The Ooty Wide Field Array

We describe here an ongoing upgrade to the legacy Ooty Radio Telescope (ORT). The ORT is a cylindrical parabolic cylinder 530 m × 30 m in size operating at a frequency of 326.5 (or z～3.35 for the HI 21-cm line). The telescope has been constructed on a North–South hill slope whose gradient is equal to the latitude of the hill, making it effectively equatorially mounted. The feed consists of an array of 1056 dipoles. The key feature of this upgrade is the digitization and cross-correlation of the signals of every set of 4-dipoles. This converts the ORT into a 264 element interferometer with a field-of-view of 2^°×27.4^°cos(δ). This upgraded instrument is called the Ooty Wide Field Array (OWFA). This paper briefly describes the salient features of the upgrade, as well as its main science drivers. There are three main science drivers viz. (1) observations of the large scale distribution of HI in the post-reionization era, (2) studies of the propagation of plasma irregularities through the inner heliosphere and (3) blind surveys for transient sources. More details on the upgrade, as well as on the expected science uses can be found in other papers in this special issue.     

On using visibility correlations to probe the H i distribution from the dark ages to the present epoch – I. Formalism and the expected signal

Redshifted 21-cm radiation originating from the cosmological distribution of neutral hydrogen (H  i ) appears as background radiation in low-frequency radio observations. The angular and frequency domain fluctuations in this radiation carry information concerning cosmological structure formation. We propose that correlations between visibilities measured at different baselines and frequencies in radio-interferometric observations be used to quantify the statistical properties of these fluctuations. This has an inherent advantage over other statistical estimators in that it deals directly with the visibilities which are the primary quantities measured in radio-interferometric observations. Also, the visibility correlation has a very simple relation with the power spectrum. We present estimates of the expected signal for nearly the entire post-recombination era, from the dark ages to the present epoch. The epoch of reionization, where H  i has a patchy distribution, has a distinct signature where the signal is determined by the size of the discrete ionized regions. The signal at other epochs, where H  i follows the dark matter, is determined largely by the power spectrum of dark matter fluctuations. The signal is strongest for baselines where the antenna separations are within a few hundred times the wavelength of observation, and an optimal strategy would preferentially sample these baselines. In the frequency domain, for most baselines the visibilities at two different frequencies are uncorrelated beyond  Δν∼ 1 MHz  , a signature which, in principle, would allow the H  i signal to be easily distinguished from the continuum sources of contamination.     

Prowess – A Software Model for the Ooty Wide Field Array

One of the scientific objectives of the Ooty Wide Field Array (OWFA) is to observe the redshifted Hi emission from z ～ 3.35. Although predictions spell out optimistic outcomes in reasonable integration times, these studies were based purely on analytical assumptions, without accounting for limiting systematics. A software model for OWFA has been developed with a view to understanding the instrument-induced systematics, by describing a complete software model for the instrument. This model has been implemented through a suite of programs, together called Prowess, which has been conceived with the dual role of an emulator as well as observatory data analysis software. The programming philosophy followed in building Prowess enables a general user to define an own set of functions and add new functionality. This paper describes a co-ordinate system suitable for OWFA in which the baselines are defined. The foregrounds are simulated from their angular power spectra. The visibilities are then computed from the foregrounds. These visibilities are then used for further processing, such as calibration and power spectrum estimation. The package allows for rich visualization features in multiple output formats in an interactive fashion, giving the user an intuitive feel for the data. Prowess has been extensively used for numerical predictions of the foregrounds for the OWFA Hi experiment.     

HI fluctuations at large redshifts: II — the signal expected for the GMRT

For the GMRT, we calculate the expected signal from red-shifted HI emission at two frequency bands centered at 610 and 325 MHz. The study focuses on the visibility-visibility cross-correlations, proposed earlier as the optimal statistical estimator for detecting and analyzing this signal. These correlations directly probe the power spectrum of density fluctuations at the redshift where the radiation originated, and thereby provide a method for studying the large scale structures at large redshifts. We present detailed estimates of the correlations expected between the visibilities measured at different baselines and frequencies. Analytic fitting formulas representing the salient features of the expected signal are also provided. These will be useful in planning observations and deciding an optimal strategy for detecting this signal.     

Probing Individual Sources during Reionization and Cosmic Dawn using Square Kilometre Array HI 21-cm Observations

Detection of individual luminous sources during the reionization epoch and cosmic dawn through their signatures in the HI 21-cm signal is one of the direct approaches to probe the epoch. Here, we summarize our previous works on this and present preliminary results on the prospects of detecting such sources using the SKA1-low experiment. We first discuss the expected HI 21-cm signal around luminous sources at different stages of reionization and cosmic dawn. We then introduce two visibility based estimators for detecting such signals: one based on the matched filtering technique and the other relies on simply combing the visibility signal from different baselines and frequency channels. We find that the SKA1-low should be able to detect ionized bubbles of radius \(R_{\mathrm {b}} \gtrsim 10\) Mpc with ～100 h of observations at redshift z～8 provided that the mean outside neutral hydrogen fraction \(\mathrm {x}_{\text {HI}} \gtrsim 0.5\). We also investigate the possibility of detecting HII regions around known bright QSOs such as around ULASJ1120+0641 discovered by Mortlock et al. (Nature 474, 7353 (2011)). We find that a 5σ detection is possible with 600 h of SKA1-low observations if the QSO age and the outside x_HI are at least ～2×10⁷ Myr and ～0.2 respectively. Finally, we investigate the possibility of detecting the very first X-ray and Ly- α sources during the cosmic dawn. We consider mini-QSOs like sources which emits in X-ray frequency band. We find that with a total ～ 1000 h of observations, SKA1-low should be able to detect those sources individually with a ～ 9σ significance at redshift z=15. We summarize how the SNR changes with various parameters related to the source properties.     

Prospects of Measuring the Angular Power Spectrum of the Diffuse Galactic Synchrotron Emission with SKA1 Low

The Diffuse Galactic Syncrotron Emission (DGSE) is the most important diffuse foreground component for future cosmological 21-cm observations. The DGSE is also an important probe of the cosmic ray electron and magnetic field distributions in the turbulent interstellar medium (ISM) of our galaxy. In this paper we briefly review the Tapered Gridded Estimator (TGE) which can be used to quantify the angular power spectrum C _? of the sky signal directly from the visibilities measured in radio-interferometric observations. The salient features of the TGE are: (1) it deals with the gridded data which makes it computationally very fast, (2) it avoids a positive noise bias which normally arises from the system noise inherent to the visibility data, and (3) it allows us to taper the sky response and thereby suppresses the contribution from unsubtracted point sources in the outer parts and the side lobes of the antenna beam pattern. We also summarize earlier work where the TGE was used to measure the C _? of the DGSE using 150 MHz GMRT data. Earlier measurements of C _? are restricted to \(\ell \le \ell _{\max } \sim 10^{3}\) for the DGSE, the signal at the larger ? values is dominated by the residual point sources after source subtraction. The higher sensitivity of the upcoming SKA1 Low will allow the point sources to be subtracted to a fainter level than possible with existing telescopes. We predict that it will be possible to measure the C _? of the DGSE to larger values of \(\ell _{\max }\) with SKA1 Low. Our results show that it should be possible to achieve \(\ell _{\max }\sim 10^{4}\) and ～10⁵ with 2 minutes and 10 hours of observations respectively.     

FRB Event Rate Predictions for the Ooty Wide Field Array

We developed a generic formalism to estimate the event rate and the redshift distribution of Fast Radio Bursts (FRBs) in our previous publication (Bera et al. 2016), considering FRBs are of an extragalactic origin. In this paper, we present (a) the predicted pulse widths of FRBs by considering two different scattering models, (b) the minimum total energy required to detect events, (c) the redshift distribution and (d) the detection rates of FRBs for the Ooty Wide Field Array (OWFA). The energy spectrum of FRBs is modelled as a power law with an exponent ?α and our analysis spans a range ?3≤α≤5. We find that OWFA will be capable of detecting FRBs with α≥0. The redshift distribution and the event rates of FRBs are estimated by assuming two different energy distribution functions; a Delta function and a Schechter luminosity function with an exponent ?2≤γ≤2. We consider an empirical scattering model based on pulsar observations (model I) as well as a theoretical model (model II) expected for the intergalactic medium. The redshift distributions peak at a particular redshift z _p for a fixed value of α, which lie in the range 0.3≤z _p ≤1 for the scattering model I and remain flat and extend up to high redshifts (z?5) for the scattering model II.     

Soft proton flux on <Emphasis Type="Italic">ATHENA</Emphasis> focal plane and its impact on the magnetic diverter design

The experience gained with the current generation of X-ray telescopes like Chandra and XMM-Newton has shown that low energy “soft” protons can pose a severe threat to the possibility to exploit scientific data, reducing the available exposure times by up to 50% and introducing a poorly reproducible background component. These soft protons are present in orbits outside the radiation belts and enter the mirrors, being concentrated towards the focal plane instruments, losing energy along their path and finally depositing their remaining energy in the detectors. Their contribution to the residual background will be even higher for ATHENA with respect to previous missions, given the much higher collecting area of the mirrors, even if the instruments will likely suffer no significant radiation damage from this particles flux. As a consequence this soft proton flux shall be damped with the use of a magnetic diverter to avoid excess background loading on the WFI or X-IFU instruments. We present here a first complete evaluation of this background component for the two focal plane instruments of the ATHENA mission in absence of a magnetic diverter, and derive the requirements for such device to reduce the soft protons induced background below the level required to enable the mission science. We estimate the soft proton flux expected in L2 for the interplanetary component and for the component generated locally by acceleration processes in the magnetotail. We produce a proton response matrix for each of the two instruments of ATHENA focal plane, exploiting two independent Monte Carlo simulations to estimate the optics concentration efficiency, and Geant4 simulations to evaluate the energy loss inside the radiation filters and deposited in the detector. With this modular approach we derive the expected fluxes and spectra for the soft protons component of the background. Finally, we calculate the specifics of a magnetic diverter able to reduce such flux below the required level for both X-IFU and WFI.     

Do we need to correct the internal linear combination quadrupole?

The problem of high correlation of the CMB quadrupole with foregrounds is investigated in this paper. We present an analysis of the cross-correlation for the WMAP ILC(III) low multipoles and foregrounds and show that without correction of the sign for m = 0 harmonic of the quadrupole this correlation is very high. By analysis of 10⁴ Monte Carlo simulations of the CMB-foreground separation, presented by Eriksen et al. [1], we show that practically for 50% realizations of the CMB quadrupole with the sign of the m = 0 mode equivalent to the sign of the foreground component, the input quadrupoles have the opposite sign of the output signal. Preserving the WMAP ILC(III) power spectrum of the quadrupole and changing the sign of the ILC (III) m = 0mode, we get the coefficient of cross-correlations |K(? = 2)| < 10%, what decreases the level of cross-correlations by a factor of 5–6. We use themultipole vectors for the renormalized ILC(III) quadrupole and show that these vectors are very sensitive to the sign and amplitude of the m = 0 mode.     

Understanding the Internal Magnetic Field Configurations of ICMEs Using More than 20 Years of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Wind</Emphasis> Observations

The magnetic topology, structure, and geometry of the magnetic obstacles embedded within interplanetary coronal mass ejections (ICMEs) are not yet fully and consistently described by in situ models and reconstruction techniques. The main goal of this work is to better understand the status of the internal magnetic field of ICMEs and to explore in situ signatures to identify clues to develop a more accurate and reliable in situ analytical models. We take advantage of more than 20 years of Wind observations of transients at 1 AU to compile a comprehensive database of ICMEs through three solar cycles, from 1995 to 2015. The catalog is publicly available at wind.gsfc.nasa.gov and is fully described in this article. We identify and collect the properties of 337 ICMEs, of which 298 show organized magnetic field signatures. To allow for departures from idealized magnetic configurations, we introduce the term “magnetic obstacle” (MO) to signify the possibility of more complex configurations. To quantify the asymmetry of the magnetic field strength profile within these events, we introduce the distortion parameter (DiP) and calculate the expansion velocity within the magnetic obstacle. Circular-cylindrical geometry is assumed when the magnetic field strength displays a symmetric profile. We perform a statistical study of these two parameters and find that only 35% of the events show symmetric magnetic profiles and a low enough expansion velocity to be compatible with the assumption of an idealized cylindrical static flux rope, and that 41% of the events do not show the expected relationship between expansion and magnetic field compression in the front, with the maximum magnetic field closer to the first encounter of the spacecraft with the magnetic obstacle; 18% show contractions (i.e. apparent negative expansion velocity), and 30% show magnetic field compression in the back. We derive an empirical relation between DiP and expansion velocity that is the first step toward improving reconstructions with possible applications to space weather studies. In summary, our main results demonstrate that the assumed correlation between expanding structure and asymmetric magnetic field is not always valid. Although 59% of the cases could be described by circular-cylindrical geometry, with or without expansion, the remaining cases show significant in situ signatures of departures from circular-cylindrical geometry. These results will aid in the development of more accurate in situ models to reconcile image.     

Photometric observations of Cepheids from the ASAS-3 catalog: Photoelectric <Emphasis Type="Italic">BV I</Emphasis><Subscript>c</Subscript> observations of 46 low-amplitude Cepheids

From December 2006 to January 2008, we performed 1699 BV I _c observations for 46 low-amplitude Cepheids discovered in the course of the ASAS project using the 76-cm telescope of the South-African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO). We provide the tables of observations and V light and B-V and V-I _c color curves. These new observations, along with data from the ASAS-3 catalog, have been used to improve the elements of the light variations. Our data allow the number of known Galactic low-amplitude Cepheids to be almost doubled. This makes it possible to increase the number of distance indicators suitable for studying the structure of the inner Galactic arms by almost 15%.     

A high galactic latitude HI 21 cm-line absorption survey using the GMRT: I. Observations and spectra

We have used the Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope (GMRT) to measure the Galactic HI 21-cm line absorption towards 102 extragalactic radio continuum sources, located at high (|b| > 15°) Galactic latitudes. The Declination coverage of the present survey is δ}> - 45°. With a mean rms optical depth of ∼ 0.003, this is the most sensitive Galactic HI 21-cm line absorption survey to date. To supplement the absorption data, we have extracted the HI 21-cm line emission profiles towards these 102 lines of sight from the Leiden Dwingeloo Survey of Galactic neutral hydrogen. We have carried out a Gaussian fitting analysis to identify the discrete absorption and emission components in these profiles. In this paper, we present the spectra and the components. A subsequent paper will discuss the interpretation of these results.     

Photometric observations of Cepheids from the ASAS-3 catalog: Photoelectric <Emphasis Type="Italic">BV I</Emphasis><Subscript>c</Subscript> observations of 33 classical Cepheids

Cepheids, the principal distance indicators, point to the existence of two inner Galactic spiral arms in the immediate solar neighborhood (within 5 kpc). However, the available Cepheids are clearly insufficient for a detailed study of the structure of these arms. Fortunately, southern-sky monitoring (the ASAS project) has led to the discovery of many new variable stars, more than one thousand of which have been identified as possible Cepheids. To improve the classification and to construct reliable light curves for new Cepheids, we have begun their regular photometric observations. Here, we present the first results: 1192 photoelectricBV I _c observations were performed for 33 classical Cepheidswith the 76-cm telescope of the South-African Astronomical Observatory (SAAO, the South-African Republic) from December 2006 to January 2008. We provide tables of observations and V light and B-V and V-I _c color curves. The new observations together with ASAS-3 data have been used to improve the elements of the light variations.     

The particle background of the <Emphasis Type="Italic">X-IFU</Emphasis> instrument

In this paper we are going to review the latest estimates for the particle background expected on the X-IFU instrument onboard of the ATHENA mission. The particle background is induced by two different particle populations: the so called “soft protons” and the Cosmic rays. The first component is composed of low energy particles (< 100s keV) that get funnelled by the mirrors towards the focal plane, losing part of their energy inside the filters and inducing background counts inside the instrument sensitivity band. The latter component is induced by high energy particles (> 100 MeV) that possess enough energy to cross the spacecraft and reach the detector from any direction, depositing a small fraction of their energy inside the instrument. Both these components are estimated using Monte Carlo simulations and the latest results are presented here.     

Instability of reconstruction of the low CMB multipoles

We discuss the problem of the bias of the Internal Linear Combination (ILC) CMB map and show that it is closely related to the coefficient of cross-correlation K(?) of the true CMB and the foreground for each multipole ?. We present analysis of the cross-correlation for the WMAP ILC quadrupole and octupole from the first (ILC(I)) and the third (ILC(III)) year data releases and show that these correlations are ～ ?0.52–0.6. Analysing 10⁴ Monte Carlo simulations of the random Gaussian CMB signals, we show that the distribution function for the corresponding coefficient of the cross-correlation has a polynomial shape P(K, ?) ∝ (1 ? K ²)^??1. We show that the most probable value of the cross-correlation coefficient of the ILC and foreground quadrupole has two extrema at K ? ±0.58. Thus, the ILC(III) quadrupole represents the most probable value of the coefficient K. We analyze the problem of debiasing of the ILC CMB and pointed out that reconstruction of the bias seems to be very problematic due to statistical uncertainties. In addition, instability of the debiasing illuminates itself for the quadrupole and octupole components through the flip-effect, when the even ? + m modes can be reconstructed with significant error. This error manifests itself as opposite, in respect to the true sign of even low multipole modes, and leads to significant changes of the coefficient of cross-correlation with the foreground. We show that the CMB realizations, whose the sign of quadrupole (2, 0) component is negative (and the same, as for all the foregrounds), the corresponding probability to get the positive sign after implementation of the ILC method is about 40%.     

Cosmology and Astrophysics using the Post-Reionization HI

We discuss the prospects of using the redshifted 21-cm emission from neutral hydrogen in the post-reionization epoch to study our Universe. The main aim of the article is to highlight the efforts of Indian scientists in this area with the SKA in mind. It turns out that the intensity mapping surveys from SKA can be instrumental in obtaining tighter constraints on the dark energy models. Cross-correlation of the HI intensity maps with the Ly α forest data can also be useful in measuring the BAO scale.