Calibration of the EDGES High-Band Receiver to Observe the Global 21-cm Signature from the Epoch of Reionization

Abstract

The EDGES High-Band experiment aims to detect the sky-average brightness temperature of the $21$-cm signal from the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) in the redshift range $14.8\gtrsim z\gtrsim 6.5$. To probe this redshifted signal, EDGES High-Band conducts single-antenna measurements in the frequency range $90-190$ MHz from the Murchison Radio-astronomy Observatory in Western Australia. In this paper, we describe the current strategy for calibration of the EDGES High-Band receiver and report calibration results for the instrument used in the $2015-2016$ observational campaign. We propagate uncertainties in the receiver calibration measurements to the antenna temperature using a Monte Carlo approach. We define a performance objective of $1$~mK residual RMS after modeling foreground subtraction from a fiducial temperature spectrum using a five-term polynomial. Most of the calibration uncertainties yield residuals of $1$~mK or less at $95\%$ confidence. However, current uncertainties in the antenna and receiver reflection coefficients can lead to residuals of up to $20$ mK even in low-foreground sky regions. These dominant residuals could be reduced by 1) improving the accuracy in reflection measurements, especially their phase 2) improving the impedance match at the antenna-receiver interface, and 3) decreasing the changes with frequency of the antenna reflection phase.

Updated to match version accepted by ApJ

References in corpus (19)

• Cosmology at Low Frequencies: The 21 cm Transition and the High-Redshift Universe
• Cosmic Reionization and Early Star-Forming Galaxies: A Joint Analysis of New Constraints from Planck and Hubble Space Telescope
• Planck intermediate results. XLVII. Planck constraints on reionization history
• The Global 21-cm Signal in the Context of the High-z Galaxy Luminosity Function
• BIGHORNS - Broadband Instrument for Global HydrOgen ReioNisation Signal
• Spectral Index of the Diffuse Radio Background Measured From 100 to 200 MHz
• Bayesian constraints on the global 21-cm signal from the Cosmic Dawn
• Toward Empirical Constraints on the Global Redshifted 21 cm Brightness Temperature During the Epoch of Reionization
• Foreground Model and Antenna Calibration Errors in the Measurement of the Sky-Averaged λ21 cm Signal at z~20
• Improved Measurement of the Spectral Index of the Diffuse Radio Background Between 90 and 190 MHz
• Constraining the redshifted 21-cm signal with the unresolved soft X-ray background
• Interpreting the Global 21-cm Signal from High Redshifts. II. Parameter Estimation for Models of Galaxy Formation
• SARAS measurement of the Radio Background at long wavelengths
• Limits on Foreground Subtraction from Chromatic Beam Effects in Global Redshifted 21 cm Measurements
• Parametrizations of the global 21-cm signal and parameter estimation from single-dipole experiments
• Radiometric Measurements of Electron Temperature and Opacity of Ionospheric Perturbations
• Precise Measurement of the Reionization Optical Depth from The Global 21-cm Signal Accounting for Cosmic Heating
• One-Port Direct/Reverse Method for Characterizing VNA Calibration Standards
• Cosmic Reionization On Computers. Mean and Fluctuating Redshifted 21 cm Signal

Cited by in corpus (63)

• An absorption profile centred at 78 megahertz in the sky-averaged spectrum
• The Giant Radio Array for Neutrino Detection (GRAND): Science and Design
• Data Analysis for Precision 21 cm Cosmology
• Design and characterization of the Large-Aperture Experiment to Detect the Dark Age (LEDA) radiometer systems
• First results on the Epoch of Reionization from First Light with SARAS 2
• Results from EDGES High-Band: I. Constraints on Phenomenological Models for the Global $21$ cm Signal
• The REACH radiometer for detecting the 21-cm hydrogen signal from redshift 7.5 to 28
• Constraining the intergalactic medium at $z\approx$ 9.1 using LOFAR Epoch of Reionization observations
• SARAS 2: A Spectral Radiometer for probing Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionization through detection of the global 21 cm signal
• Improved Measurement of the Spectral Index of the Diffuse Radio Background Between 90 and 190 MHz
• A new MWA limit on the 21 cm Power Spectrum at Redshifts $\sim$ 13 $-$ 17
• Results from EDGES High-Band: III. New Constraints on Parameters of the Early Universe
• Spectral Index of the Diffuse Radio Background Between 50 and 100 MHz
• Constraining the state of the intergalactic medium during the Epoch of Reionization using MWA 21-cm signal observations
• Inflation and Early Dark Energy with a Stage II Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment
• A Space-Based Observational Strategy for Characterizing the First Stars and Galaxies Using the Redshifted 21-cm Global Spectrum
• Astrophysical Constraints from the SARAS3 non-detection of the Cosmic Dawn Sky-Averaged 21-cm Signal
• Charting the Parameter Space of the 21-cm Power Spectrum
• Mapper of the IGM spin temperature: instrument overview
• Results from EDGES High-Band: II. Constraints on Parameters of Early Galaxies
• The Radio Synchrotron Background: Conference Summary and Report
• Formulating and critically examining the assumptions of global 21-cm signal analyses: How to avoid the false troughs that can appear in single spectrum fits
• Global 21-cm signal extraction from foreground and instrumental effects I: Pattern recognition framework for separation using training sets
• Validation of EDGES Low-Band Antenna Beam Model
• Assessment of the Projection-induced Polarimetry Technique for Constraining the Foreground Spectrum in Global 21 cm Cosmology
• Fractional Dark Matter decay: cosmological imprints and observational constraints
• Lunar Orbit Measurement of Cosmic Dawn 21 cm Global Spectrum
• Bayesian noise wave calibration for 21-cm global experiments
• A Bayesian Calibration Framework for EDGES
• Absolute Calibration of Diffuse Radio Surveys at 45 and 150 MHz
• Measuring the global 21-cm signal with the MWA-I: improved measurements of the Galactic synchrotron background using lunar occultation
• An Effective Bias Expansion for 21 cm Cosmology in Redshift Space
• The large-scale 21-cm power spectrum from reionization
• SARAS CD/EoR Radiometer: Design and performance of the Digital Correlation Spectrometer
• Cosmological implications of the composite spectra of galactic X-ray binaries constructed using MAXI data
• Constraints on the state of the IGM at $z\sim 8-10$ using redshifted 21-cm observations with LOFAR
• Statistical Detection of IGM Structures during Cosmic Reionization using Absorption of the Redshifted 21 cm line by HI against Compact Background Radio Sources
• Dipole of the Epoch of Reionization 21-cm signal
• RHINO: A large horn antenna for detecting the 21cm global signal
• Calibration Error in 21-centimeter Global Spectrum Experiments
• The EDGES measurement disfavors an excess radio background during the cosmic dawn
• Receiver design for the REACH global 21-cm signal experiment
• Effects of model incompleteness on the drift-scan calibration of radio telescopes
• A detailed exploration of the EDGES 21 cm absorption anomaly and axion-induced cooling
• RFSoC receiver calibration system for 21-cm global spectrum experiments from space: The CosmoCube case
• Measurements of the global 21-cm signal from the Cosmic Dawn
• Improvements to the Search for Cosmic Dawn Using the Long Wavelength Array
• Low-Frequency Radio Recombination Lines Away From the Inner Galactic Plane
• Measuring the global 21-cm signal with the MWA-II: improved characterisation of lunar-reflected radio frequency interference
• Accounting for Noise and Singularities in Bayesian Calibration Methods for Global 21-cm Cosmology Experiments
• A Bayesian approach to modelling spectrometer data chromaticity corrected using beam factors -- II. Model priors and posterior odds
• Radiometer Calibration using Machine Learning
• A Digital Calibration Source for 21cm Cosmology Telescopes
• Probing Non-Minimal Dark Sectors via the 21 cm Line at Cosmic Dawn
• Blade Antenna-SDR System Prototype for the CANTAR Global 21-cm Experiment: Simulations, Measurements, and In-Situ Results
• Sensitivity toward dark matter annihilation imprints on 21-cm signal with SKA-Low: A convolutional neural network approach
• Beamforming approaches toward detecting the 21-cm global signal from Cosmic Dawn with radio array telescopes
• General Framework for Array Noise Analysis and Noise Performance of a Two-Element Interferometer With a Mutual-Coupling Canceler
• Enabling Discoveries: Thirty Years of Advanced Technologies and Instrumentation at the National Science Foundation
• Design Equations for a Closely-Spaced Two-Element Interferometer Including Internal Noise Coupling
• Capturing System Drift with Time Series Calibration for Global 21-cm Cosmology Experiments
• A Bayesian approach to high fidelity interferometric calibration I: mathematical formalism
• An SBC-based controller and processor for the laboratory model of PRATUSH Digital Receiver