Studying cosmic reionization with observations of the global 21-cm signal

Abstract

We explore the ability of observations of the global brightness temperature of the 21-cm signal to constrain the reionization history and the properties of the ionizing sources. In order to describe the reionization signal, we employ either a commonly-used toy model or a structure formation model that parameterizes the properties of the ionizing sources. If the structure formation model captures the actual evolution of the reionization signal, then detecting the signal is somewhat easier than it would be for the toy model; using the toy model in this case also leads to systematic errors in reconstructing the reionization history, though a sufficiently sensitive experiment should be able to distinguish between the two models. We show that under optimistic assumptions regarding systematic noise and foreground removal, one-year observations of the global 21-cm spectrum should be able to detect a wide range of realistic models and measure the main features of the reionization history while constraining the key properties of the ionizing sources.

MNRAS in press

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• The Rise of the First Stars: Supersonic Streaming, Radiative Feedback, and 21-cm Cosmology
• Results from EDGES High-Band: I. Constraints on Phenomenological Models for the Global $21$ cm Signal
• Calibration of the EDGES High-Band Receiver to Observe the Global 21-cm Signature from the Epoch of Reionization
• Global 21cm signal experiments: A designer's guide
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• Constraining cosmology and ionization history with combined 21 cm power spectrum and global signal measurements
• Limits on Foreground Subtraction from Chromatic Beam Effects in Global Redshifted 21 cm Measurements
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• Interpreting the Global 21-cm Signal from High Redshifts. I. Model Independent Constraints
• PRATUSH experiment concept and design overview
• Joint constraints on reionization: a framework for combining the global 21cm signal and the kinetic Sunyaev-Zel'dovich effect
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• Luminosity Bias (II): The Cosmic Web of the First Stars