COMAP Early Science: I. Overview

Abstract

The CO Mapping Array Project (COMAP) aims to use line intensity mapping of carbon monoxide (CO) to trace the distribution and global properties of galaxies over cosmic time, back to the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). To validate the technologies and techniques needed for this goal, a Pathfinder instrument has been constructed and fielded. Sensitive to CO(1-0) emission from $z=2.4$-$3.4$ and a fainter contribution from CO(2-1) at $z=6$-8, the Pathfinder is surveying $12$ deg${}^2$ in a 5-year observing campaign to detect the CO signal from $z\sim 3$. Using data from the first 13 months of observing, we estimate $P_{\mathrm{CO}}(k)=-2.7\pm 1.7\times 10^4\mu {\mathrm{K}}^2{\mathrm{Mpc}}^3$ on scales $k=0.051-0.62{\mathrm{Mpc}}^{-1}$ - the first direct 3D constraint on the clustering component of the CO(1-0) power spectrum. Based on these observations alone, we obtain a constraint on the amplitude of the clustering component (the squared mean CO line temperature-bias product) of $⟨Tb{⟩}^2<49$ $\mu$K${}^2$ - nearly an order-of-magnitude improvement on the previous best measurement. These constraints allow us to rule out two models from the literature. We forecast a detection of the power spectrum after 5 years with signal-to-noise ratio (S/N) 9-17. Cross-correlation with an overlapping galaxy survey will yield a detection of the CO-galaxy power spectrum with S/N of 19. We are also conducting a 30 GHz survey of the Galactic plane and present a preliminary map. Looking to the future of COMAP, we examine the prospects for future phases of the experiment to detect and characterize the CO signal from the EoR.

Paper 1 of 7 in series. 18 pages, 16 figures, submitted to ApJ

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Cited by in corpus (44)

• The CosmoVerse White Paper: Addressing observational tensions in cosmology with systematics and fundamental physics
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• COMAP Early Science: V. Constraints and Forecasts at $z\sim 3$
• COMAP Early Science: VII. Prospects for CO Intensity Mapping at Reionization
• COMAP Early Science: IV. Power Spectrum Methodology and Results
• LIMFAST. II. Line Intensity Mapping as a Probe of High-Redshift Galaxy Formation
• COMAP Early Science: II. Pathfinder Instrument
• COMAP Early Science: VI. A First Look at the COMAP Galactic Plane Survey
• COMAP Early Science: III. CO Data Processing
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• Forecasts and Statistical Insights for Line Intensity Mapping Cross-Correlations: A Case Study with 21cm x [CII]
• A multi-tracer empirically-driven approach to line-intensity mapping lightcones
• Exploration of 3D wavelet scattering transform coefficients for line-intensity mapping measurements
• The deconvolved distribution estimator: enhancing reionisation-era CO line-intensity mapping analyses with a cross-correlation analogue for one-point statistics
• Foreground Removal of CO Intensity Mapping Using Deep Learning
• COMAP Pathfinder -- Season 2 results I. Improved data selection and processing
• SIMPLE: Simple Intensity Map Producer for Line Emission
• Characteristic Functions for Cosmological Cross-Correlations
• The C-Band All-Sky Survey (C-BASS): New Constraints on the Integrated Radio Spectrum of M 31
• Boosting Line Intensity Map Signal-to-Noise with the Ly-$\alpha$ Forest Cross-Correlation
• On the contributions of extragalactic CO emission lines to ground-based CMB observations
• Bayesian Multi-line Intensity Mapping
• $\text{slick}$: Modeling a Universe of Molecular Line Luminosities in Hydrodynamical Simulations
• Constraining Cosmology With the CMB $\times$ LIM-Nulling Convergence
• A Multi-messenger view of Cosmic Dawn: Conquering the Final Frontier
• The power spectrum of galaxies from large to small scales: a line-intensity mapping perspective
• COMAP Pathfinder -- Season 2 results II. Updated constraints on the CO(1-0) power spectrum
• COMAP Pathfinder -- Season 2 results III. Implications for cosmic molecular gas content at "Cosmic Half-past Eleven"
• Axion signals from neutron star populations
• Leveraging cross-correlations and linear covariance-based filtering for line-intensity map reconstructions at linear scales
• HI Intensity Mapping with the MIGHTEE Survey: First Results of the HI Power Spectrum
• Three-Dimensional Stacking as a Line Intensity Mapping Statistic
• Towards a multi-tracer neutrino mass measurement with line-intensity mapping
• The informativeness of [C II] line-intensity mapping as a probe of the H I content and metallicity of galaxies at the end of reionization
• Removal of interloper contamination to line-intensity maps using correlations with ancillary tracers of the large-scale structure
• Direct correlation of line intensity mapping and CMB lensing from evolution along the lightcone
• Lyα Intensity Mapping in HETDEX: Galaxy-Lyα Intensity Cross-Power Spectrum
• Constraining the halo-ISM connection through multi-transition carbon monoxide line-intensity mapping
• COMAP Pathfinder -- Season 2 results IV. A stack on eBOSS/DESI quasars
• Radiative Transfer Simulations of Ly$\alpha$ Intensity Mapping During Cosmic Reionization Including Sources from Galaxies and the Intergalactic Medium
• Unveiling the evolution of the CO excitation ladder through cross-correlation of CONCERTO-like experiments and galaxy redshift surveys
• Comparison of Cross-Correlation Methods for Line Intensity Mapping
• Optimizing Foreground Modelling for Global 21cm Cosmology with GPU-Accelerated Nested Sampling