Related papers: Peering into the Dark (Ages) with Low-Frequency Sp…
We consider the evolution of the sky-averaged 21 cm background during the early phases of structure formation. Using simple analytic models, we calculate the thermal and ionization histories, assuming that stellar photons dominate the…
The birth of the first luminous sources and the ensuing epoch of reionization are best studied via the redshifted 21-cm emission line, the signature of the first two imprinting the last. In this work we present a fully-Bayesian method,…
The question of whether intelligent life exists elsewhere is one of the fundamental unknowns about our Universe. Over the past decade more than 200 extra-solar planets have been discovered, providing new urgency for addressing this question…
The redshifted 21cm signal from the Cosmic Dawn is expected to provide unprecedented insights into early Universe astrophysics and cosmology. Here we explore how dark matter can heat the intergalactic medium before the first galaxies,…
The redshifted 21-cm emission by neutral hydrogen offers a unique tool for mapping structure formation in the early universe in three dimensions. Here we provide the first detailed calculation of the 21-cm emission signal during and after…
To understand the cosmic history of element synthesis it will be important to obtain extinction-free measures of the heavy element contents of high-redshift objects and to chart two monumental events: the collapse of the first metal-free…
After reionization, emission in the 21 cm hyperfine transition provides a direct probe of neutral hydrogen distributed in galaxies. Different from galaxy redshift surveys, observation of baryon acoustic oscillations in the cumulative 21 cm…
Opening up a new window of millimeter-wave observations that span frequency bands in the range of 30 to 500 GHz, survey half the sky, and are both an order of magnitude deeper (about 0.5 uK-arcmin) and of higher-resolution (about 10…
The H atoms inside minihalos (i.e. halos with virial temperatures T_vir < 10^4 K, in the mass range roughly from 10^4 M_sun to 10^8 M_sun) during the cosmic dark ages in a LCDM universe produce a redshifted background of…
The emission from neutral hydrogen (HI) clouds in the post-reionization era (z < 6), too faint to be individually detected, is present as a diffuse background in all low frequency radio observations below 1420 MHz. The angular and frequency…
We present the first complete calculation of the history of the inhomogeneous 21-cm signal from neutral hydrogen during the era of the first stars. We use hybrid computational methods to capture the large-scale distribution of the first…
The Epoch of Reionization (EoR) is the epoch in which hydrogen in the Universe reionize after the "Dark Ages". This is the second of two major phase transitions that hydrogen in the Universe underwent, the first phase being the…
The redshifted 21 cm brightness distribution from neutral hydrogen is a promising probe into the cosmic dark ages, cosmic dawn, and re-ionization. LOFAR's Low Band Antennas (LBA) may be used in the frequency range 45 MHz to 85 MHz (30>z>16)…
LOFAR (Low Frequency Array) is an innovative radio telescope optimized for the frequency range 30-240 MHz. The telescope is realized as a phased aperture array without any moving parts. Digital beam forming allows the telescope to point to…
The primordial power spectrum of curvature perturbations has been well-measured on large scales but remains fairly unconstrained at smaller scales, where significant deviations from $\Lambda$CDM may occur. Measurements of 21-cm intensity…
A new generation of low frequency radio telescopes is seeking to observe the redshifted 21 cm signal from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR), requiring innovative methods of calibration and imaging to overcome the difficulties of widefield low…
The H atoms inside minihalos (i.e. halos with virial temperatures T_vir < 10^4 K, in the mass range roughly from 10^4 M_sun to 10^8 M_sun) during the cosmic dark ages in a LambdaCDM universe produce a redshifted background of…
The early star-forming Universe is still poorly constrained, with the properties of high-redshift stars, the first heating sources, and reionization highly uncertain. This leaves observers planning 21-cm experiments with little theoretical…
The cosmological 21-cm signal from neutral hydrogen, which is considered as a promising tool, is being used to observe and study the cosmic dawn (CD) and epoch of reionization (EoR). A significant part of this thesis focuses on the…
The non transparency and severe propagation effects of the terrestrial ionosphere make it impossible for Earth based instruments to study the universe at low radio frequencies. An exploration of the low frequency radio window with the…