Detecting Cosmic Reionization via Low-Frequency Interferometry

该奖项是根据2009年《美国复苏和再投资法案》(公法111-5)资助的。Aaron Parsons被授予NSF天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在加州大学伯克利分校(UCB)开展一项研究和教育计划。研究中心是用于探测再电离时代的精密阵列的设计和实现，这是一种低频干涉仪，旨在探测120-200 MHz频段红移21厘米发射的亮度温度波动的功率谱，对应于红移11 z 6。帕森斯博士将：(1)开发纸质仪器，包括在加州大学伯克利分校天文信号处理和电子研究中心(CASPER)内的相关器研究，使该仪器在未来三年内扩展到32天线、天线和128天线的部署；(2)改进纸质数据的校准和成像，作为使用低频干涉仪进行高动态范围成像的开源软件工具包的一部分；以及(3)表征干扰的天体物理前景，优化阵列内的天线配置以探测相对于这些前景的再电离信号的历元，并为来自宇宙电离的21厘米波动设定越来越敏感的界限。帕森斯还将开发一个跨学科的本科生实验班，专注于无线电、信号处理和无线通信的原理，以及一个使用宽带光谱仪监测无线电干扰的公共外展，作为提高人们对射电天文学中“黑暗天空”问题的认识的努力的一部分。

This award is funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Public Law 111-5).Dr. Aaron Parsons is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the University of California-Berkeley (UCB). The research centers on the design and implementation of the Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER), a low-frequency interferometer that aims to detect the power spectrum of fluctuations in the brightness temperature of redshifted 21-cm emission in the 120-200 MHz band, corresponding to redshifts 11 z 6. Dr. Parsons will: (1) develop PAPER instrumentation, including correlator research within UCB's Center for Astronomy Signal Processing and Electronics Research (CASPER), enabling PAPER's expansion to 32-, 64-, and 128-antenna deployments over the next three years; (2) improve calibration and imaging of PAPER data as part of an open-source software toolkit for high dynamic-range imaging with low-frequency interferometers; and (3) characterize interfering astrophysical foregrounds, optimizing antenna configuration within the array for detecting the Epoch of Reionization signal relative to these foregrounds, and setting increasingly sensitive bounds on the 21-cm fluctuations from cosmic reionization.Dr. Parsons will also develop a cross-disciplinary undergraduate lab class focusing on the principles of radios, signal processing and wireless communications, and a public outreach exhibit using a broadband spectrometer to monitor radio interference as part of an effort to raise awareness of "dark sky" issues in radio astronomy.