Impact of $1/f$ noise on cosmological parameter constraints for SKA intensity mapping

Abstract

We investigate the impact of $1/f$ noise on cosmology for an intensity mapping survey with SKA1-MID Band\,1 and Band\,2. We use a Fisher matrix approach to forecast constraints on cosmological parameters under the influence of $1/f$ noise, adopting a semi-empirical model from an earlier work, which results from the residual $1/f$ noise spectrum after applying a component separation algorithm to remove smooth spectral components. Without $1/f$ noise, the projected constraints are $4\%$ on $w_0$, $1\%$ on $h$, $2\%$ on $b_{\mathrm{HI}}$ using Band\,1+\emph{Planck}, and $3\%$ on $w_0$, $0.5\%$ on $h$, $2\%$ on $b_{\mathrm{HI}}$ using Band\,2+\emph{Planck}. A representative baseline $1/f$ noise degrades these constraints by a factor of $\sim 1.5$ for Band\,1+\emph{Planck}, and $\sim 1.2$ for Band\,2+\emph{Planck}. On the power spectrum measurement, higher redshift and smaller scales are more affected by $1/f$ noise, with minimal contamination comes from $z\lesssim 1$ and $\ell \lesssim 100$. Subject to the specific scan strategy of the adopted $1/f$ noise model, one prefers a correlated in frequency with minimised spectral slope, a low knee frequency, and a large telescope slew speed in order to reduce its impact.

15 pages, 8 figures, submitted to MNRAS