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Published June 2021 | Version Published + Submitted
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Peering into the dark (ages) with low-frequency space interferometers. Using the 21-cm signal of neutral hydrogen from the infant universe to probe fundamental (Astro)physics

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Abstract

The Dark Ages and Cosmic Dawn are largely unexplored windows on the infant Universe (z ~ 200–10). Observations of the redshifted 21-cm line of neutral hydrogen can provide valuable new insight into fundamental physics and astrophysics during these eras that no other probe can provide, and drives the design of many future ground-based instruments such as the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) and the Hydrogen Epoch of Reionization Array (HERA). We review progress in the field of high-redshift 21-cm Cosmology, in particular focussing on what questions can be addressed by probing the Dark Ages at z > 30. We conclude that only a space- or lunar-based radio telescope, shielded from the Earth's radio-frequency interference (RFI) signals and its ionosphere, enable the 21-cm signal from the Dark Ages to be detected. We suggest a generic mission design concept, CoDEX, that will enable this in the coming decades.

Additional Information

© The Author(s) 2021. This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. Received 29 January 2021; Accepted 18 March 2021; Published 03 September 2021.

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Published - Koopmans2021_Article_PeeringIntoTheDarkAgesWithLow_pub.pdf

Submitted - 1908.04296.pdf

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Additional details

Identifiers

Eprint ID
111662
Resolver ID
CaltechAUTHORS:20211027-172026903

Related works

Describes
https://arxiv.org/abs/1908.04296 (URL)

Funding

European Research Council (ERC)
884760

Dates

Created
2021-10-28
Created from EPrint's datestamp field
Updated
2021-10-28
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