Probing the Epoch of Reionization by Intensity Mapping Ionized Carbon ([CII]) with TIME-Pilot

Abigail Crites被授予NSF天文学和天体物理学博士后奖学金，在加州理工学院开展研究和教育计划。CRites将致力于开发断层扫描电离碳强度测绘实验（TIME-Pilot），这是一种旨在测量早期宇宙中电离碳特征的新仪器。这一新仪器将提高我们对宇宙快速演化时期星星形成历史的理解，而这一时期的研究还很薄弱。计划中的测量将限制星星形成的密度，并建立离子化碳探测技术，作为探索宇宙形成早期历史的一种新的可行方法。除了这项工作，Crites还将开展一项外展工作，首先包括访问洛杉矶地区的公立高中，以提供对科学的广泛介绍，然后在夏季将1 - 2名学生带到TIME-Pilot小组的实验室工作。层析电离碳强度测绘实验（TIME-Pilot）是一种新的低温，毫米波长光谱仪，旨在测量再电离时期（EoR）和一氧化碳峰值时期星星形成率期间157.7微米电离碳[CII]发射线的聚类波动。 这将通过[CII]的强度映射来实现，以检测集群波动并测试最早期矮星系微弱发射的预测[CII]幅度。使用TIME-Pilot进行[CII]探测将限制EoR星星形成的密度，并使[CII]发射成为了解EoR的可行新工具。专家们将集中精力完成TIME-Pilot仪器的开发，并对前景的系统性影响进行分析，以便提取[CII]信号。参与外展计划的高中生将接受描述科学实践的课堂参观，随后少数学生将被邀请在夏季与TIME-Pilot小组的实验室一起工作，获得实践经验。

Abigail Crites is awarded an NSF Astronomy and Astrophysics Postdoctoral Fellowship to carry out a program of research and education at the California Institute of Technology. Crites will work on the development of the Tomographic Ionized Carbon Intensity Mapping Experiment (TIME-Pilot), a new instrument designed to measure signatures of ionized carbon in the early universe. This new instrument will improve our understanding of the history of star formation during a poorly studied period when the universe was evolving rapidly. The planned measurements will constrain the density of star formation and establish the technique of ionized carbon detection as a new, viable way of probing the early history of the forming universe. Alongside this work, Crites will conduct an outreach effort that first includes visits to Los Angeles area public high schools to provide a broad introduction to science, followed by bringing 1 - 2 students to work in the TIME-Pilot group's laboratory during the summer. The Tomographic Ionized Carbon Intensity Mapping Experiment (TIME-Pilot) is a new cryogenic, mm-wavelength spectrometer designed to measure clustering fluctuations in the 157.7 micrometer ionized carbon [CII] emission line during the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) and carbon monoxide in the epoch of peak star formation rate. This will be accomplished through intensity mapping of [CII] in order to detect clustering fluctuations and test the predicted [CII] amplitudes of faint emission from the earliest dwarf galaxies. A [CII] detection with TIME-Pilot would constrain the density of EoR star formation and would make [CII] emission a viable new tool for understanding the EoR. Crites will focus on both completing the development of the TIME-Pilot instrument and conducting an analysis of the systematic effects from the foreground that will need to be accommodated in order to extract the [CII] signal. High school students in the outreach program will receive classroom visits describing the practice of science, followed by a small number of students being invited to work with the TIME-Pilot group's laboratory for hands-on experience during the summer.