The Metron Project -- I. The Metron Project Science Program

Abstract

In this paper, the first in a series of four articles, the scientific goals of the Metron project are highlighted, and the characteristics of the cosmic objects available for study within its framework are provided. The Metron interferometer radio telescope should include arrays of meter-range dipole antennas placed on Earth, in outer space or on the far side of the Moon (or a combination of these options). Working in the meter range will enable the study of the so-called cosmological epoch of ``Dark Ages'', which is challenging to observe but highly interesting for understanding the origin of the first stars, galaxies, and black holes, as well as for the search for new cosmological objects and processes. One possibility is to search for absorption in the 21 cm line within extended halos around early protogalaxies and supermassive primordial black holes, whose existence is predicted in a number of models. Another goal of Metron may be to clarify the anomalous absorption in the 21 cm line previously detected by the EDGES telescopes and to observe radio emissions from stars' and exoplanets' magnetospheres. The Metron project aims to achieve unprecedented resolution for the meter range, which is expected to yield new world-class scientific results. Meter-range antennas and receivers are relatively simple and inexpensive, and the construction of interferometric arrays from them can be accomplished in a relatively short period of time.

9 pages, 3 figures, accepted to Astrophysical Bulletin 2024

References in corpus (11)

• The NANOGrav 15-year Data Set: Evidence for a Gravitational-Wave Background
• Two Remarkably Luminous Galaxy Candidates at $z\approx 10-12$ Revealed by JWST
• The evolution of the galaxy UV luminosity function at redshifts z ~ 8-15 from deep JWST and ground-based near-infrared imaging
• The search for radio emission from the exoplanetary systems 55 Cancri, $\upsilon$ Andromedae, and $\tau$ Boötis using LOFAR beam-formed observations
• Einstein rings modulated by wavelike dark matter from anomalies in gravitationally lensed images
• Alleviating the need for exponential evolution of JWST galaxies in 10${}^{10}{M}_{\odot }$ haloes at $z>10$ by a modified $\Lambda$CDM power spectrum
• The massive relic galaxy NGC 1277 is dark matter deficient. From dynamical models of integral-field stellar kinematics out to five effective radii
• Black Holes and Neutron Stars in an Oscillating Universe
• Primordial black hole clustering from spectator fields for interpreting the JWST observations
• Observational Manifestations of the First Protogalaxies in the 21 cm Line
• Do the Early Galaxies observed by JWST disagree with Planck's CMB polarization measurements?

Cited by in corpus (1)

• Observational Manifestations of Primordial Objects in the Early Universe Through the Hydrogen Subordinate Lines