We present the 21 cm power spectrum analysis approach of the Murchison Widefield Array Epoch of Reionization project. In this paper, we compare the outputs of multiple pipelines for the purpose of validating statistical limits cosmological hydrogen at redshifts between 6 and 12. Multiple, independent, data calibration and reduction pipelines are used to make power spectrum limits on a fiducial night of data. Comparing the outputs of imaging and power spectrum stages highlights differences in calibration, foreground subtraction and power spectrum calculation. The power spectra found using these different methods span a space defined by the various tradeoffs between speed, accuracy, and systematic control. Lessons learned from comparing the pipelines range from the algorithmic to the prosaically mundane; all demonstrate the many pitfalls of neglecting reproducibility. We briefly discuss the way these different methods attempt to handle the question of evaluating a significant detection in the presence of foregrounds.
@article{arxiv.1605.06978,
title = {The Murchison Widefield Array 21 cm Power Spectrum Analysis Methodology},
author = {Daniel C. Jacobs and B. J. Hazelton and C. M. Trott and Joshua S. Dillon and B. Pindor and I. S. Sullivan and J. C. Pober and N. Barry and A. P. Beardsley and G. Bernardi and Judd D. Bowman and F. Briggs and R. J. Cappallo and P. Carroll and B. E. Corey and A. de Oliveira-Costa and D. Emrich and A. Ewall-Wice and L. Feng and B. M. Gaensler and R. Goeke and L. J. Greenhill and J. N. Hewitt and N. Hurley-Walker and M. Johnston-Hollitt and D. L. Kaplan and J. C. Kasper and H. S. Kim and E. Kratzenberg and E. Lenc and J. Line and A. Loeb and C. J. Lonsdale and M. J. Lynch and B. McKinley and S. R. McWhirter and D. A. Mitchell and M. F. Morales and E. Morgan and A. R. Neben and N. Thyagarajan and D. Oberoi and A. R. Offringa and S. M. Ord and S. Paul and T. Prabu and P. Procopio and J. Riding and A. E. E. Rogers and A. Roshi and N. Udaya Shankar and Shiv K. Sethi and K. S. Srivani and R. Subrahmanyan and M. Tegmark and S. J. Tingay and M. Waterson and R. B. Wayth and R. L. Webster and A. R. Whitney and A. Williams and C. L. Williams and C. Wu and J. S. B. Wyithe},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1605.06978},
year = {2016}
}