Abstract
This paper is the first in a series of papers describing the impact of
antenna instrumental artefacts on the 21 cm cosmology experiments to be
carried out by the low frequency instrument (SKA1-LOW) of the Square
Kilometre Array telescope (SKA), I.e. the Cosmic Dawn (CD) and the Epoch
of Reionization (EoR). The smoothness of the passband response of the
current log-periodic antenna being developed for the SKA1-LOW is
analysed using numerical electromagnetic simulations. The amplitude
variations over the frequency range are characterized using low-order
polynomials defined locally, in order to study the impact of the
passband smoothness in the instrument calibration and CD/EoR Science. A
solution is offered to correct a fast ripple found at 60 MHz during a
test campaign at the SKA site at the Murchison Radio-astronomy
Observatory, Western Australia in 2015 September with a minor impact on
the telescope's performance and design. A comparison with the Hydrogen
Epoch of Reionization Array antenna is also shown demonstrating the
potential use of the SKA1-LOW antenna for the delay-spectrum technique
to detect the EoR.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 2662-2671 |
Number of pages | 10 |
Journal | Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society |
Volume | 469 |
Issue number | 3 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1-Aug-2017 |
Keywords
- instrumentation: detectors
- dark ages
- reionization
- first stars
- LIMITATIONS
- WINDOWS
- POWER SPECTRUM
- REIONIZATION ARRAY
- HYDROGEN EPOCH
- POLARIZATION LEAKAGE
- SCIENCE IMPLICATIONS
- FOREGROUNDS
- SIMULATIONS
- CALIBRATION