509 research outputs found

    The FHD/ε\boldsymbol{\varepsilon}ppsilon Epoch of Reionization Power Spectrum Pipeline

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    Epoch of Reionization data analysis requires unprecedented levels of accuracy in radio interferometer pipelines. We have developed an imaging power spectrum analysis to meet these requirements and generate robust 21 cm EoR measurements. In this work, we build a signal path framework to mathematically describe each step in the analysis, from data reduction in the FHD package to power spectrum generation in the ε\varepsilonppsilon package. In particular, we focus on the distinguishing characteristics of FHD/ε\varepsilonppsilon: highly accurate spectral calibration, extensive data verification products, and end-to-end error propagation. We present our key data analysis products in detail to facilitate understanding of the prominent systematics in image-based power spectrum analyses. As a verification to our analysis, we also highlight a full-pipeline analysis simulation to demonstrate signal preservation and lack of signal loss. This careful treatment ensures that the FHD/ε\varepsilonppsilon power spectrum pipeline can reduce radio interferometric data to produce credible 21 cm EoR measurements.Comment: 21 pages, 10 figures, accepted by PAS

    Hypercalciuria and nephrolithiasis: Expanding the renal phenotype of Donnai-Barrow syndrome

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    Whole exome sequencing detected novel likely pathogenic variants in LRP2 gene in 2 patients presenting with hearing and vision loss, and the Dent disease (DD) classical renal phenotype, that is, low molecular weight proteinuria (LMWP), hypercalciuria and nephrocalcinosis/nephrolithiasis. We propose that a subset of patients presenting as DD may represent unrecognized cases or mild forms of Donnai-Barrow/facio-oculo-acustico-renal (DB/FOAR) syndrome or be on the phenotypic continuum between the 2 conditions

    Gridded and direct Epoch of Reionisation bispectrum estimates using the Murchison Widefield Array

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    We apply two methods to estimate the 21~cm bispectrum from data taken within the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR) project of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). Using data acquired with the Phase II compact array allows a direct bispectrum estimate to be undertaken on the multiple redundantly-spaced triangles of antenna tiles, as well as an estimate based on data gridded to the uvuv-plane. The direct and gridded bispectrum estimators are applied to 21 hours of high-band (167--197~MHz; zz=6.2--7.5) data from the 2016 and 2017 observing seasons. Analytic predictions for the bispectrum bias and variance for point source foregrounds are derived. We compare the output of these approaches, the foreground contribution to the signal, and future prospects for measuring the bispectra with redundant and non-redundant arrays. We find that some triangle configurations yield bispectrum estimates that are consistent with the expected noise level after 10 hours, while equilateral configurations are strongly foreground-dominated. Careful choice of triangle configurations may be made to reduce foreground bias that hinders power spectrum estimators, and the 21~cm bispectrum may be accessible in less time than the 21~cm power spectrum for some wave modes, with detections in hundreds of hours.Comment: 19 pages, 10 figures, accepted for publication in PAS

    Constraining the 21 cm brightness temperature of the IGM at z = 6.6 around LAEs with the murchison widefield array

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    The locations of Ly α-emitting galaxies (LAEs) at the end of the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) are expected to correlate with regions of ionized hydrogen, traced by the redshifted 21 cm hyperfine line. Mapping the neutral hydrogen around regions with detected and localized LAEs offers an avenue to constrain the brightness temperature of the Universe within the EoR by providing an expectation for the spatial distribution of the gas, thereby providing prior information unavailable to power spectrum measurements. We use a test set of 12 h of observations from the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) in extended array configuration, to constrain the neutral hydrogen signature of 58 LAEs, detected with the Subaru Hypersuprime Cam in the Silverrush survey, centred on z = 6.58. We assume that detectable emitters reside in the centre of ionized H II bubbles during the end of reionization, and predict the redshifted neutral hydrogen signal corresponding to the remaining neutral regions using a set of different ionized bubble radii. A pre-whitening matched filter detector is introduced to assess detectability. We demonstrate the ability to detect, or place limits upon, the amplitude of brightness temperature fluctuations, and the characteristic H II bubble size. With our limited data, we constrain the brightness temperature of neutral hydrogen to ΔTB B = 15 ± 2h-1 cMpc

    Beam-forming errors in Murchison Widefield array phased array antennas and their effects on epoch of reionization science

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    Accurate antenna beam models are critical for radio observations aiming to isolate the redshifted 21 cm spectral line emission from the Dark Ages and the Epoch of Reionization (EOR) and unlock the scientific potential of 21 cm cosmology. Past work has focused on characterizing mean antenna beam models using either satellite signals or astronomical sources as calibrators, but antenna-to-antenna variation due to imperfect instrumentation has remained unexplored. We characterize this variation for the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA) through laboratory measurements and simulations, finding typical deviations of the order of ±10%-20% near the edges of the main lobe and in the sidelobes. We consider the ramifications of these results for image- and power spectrum-based science. In particular, we simulate visibilities measured by a 100 m baseline and find that using an otherwise perfect foreground model, unmodeled beam-forming errors severely limit foreground subtraction accuracy within the region of Fourier space contaminated by foreground emission (the "wedge"). This region likely contains much of the cosmological signal, and accessing it will require measurement of per-antenna beam patterns. However, unmodeled beam-forming errors do not contaminate the Fourier space region expected to be free of foreground contamination (the "EOR window"), showing that foreground avoidance remains a viable strategy

    A blind detection of a large, complex, Sunyaev--Zel'dovich structure

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    We present an interesting Sunyaev-Zel'dovich (SZ) detection in the first of the Arcminute Microkelvin Imager (AMI) 'blind', degree-square fields to have been observed down to our target sensitivity of 100{\mu}Jy/beam. In follow-up deep pointed observations the SZ effect is detected with a maximum peak decrement greater than 8 \times the thermal noise. No corresponding emission is visible in the ROSAT all-sky X-ray survey and no cluster is evident in the Palomar all-sky optical survey. Compared with existing SZ images of distant clusters, the extent is large (\approx 10') and complex; our analysis favours a model containing two clusters rather than a single cluster. Our Bayesian analysis is currently limited to modelling each cluster with an ellipsoidal or spherical beta-model, which do not do justice to this decrement. Fitting an ellipsoid to the deeper candidate we find the following. (a) Assuming that the Evrard et al. (2002) approximation to Press & Schechter (1974) correctly gives the number density of clusters as a function of mass and redshift, then, in the search area, the formal Bayesian probability ratio of the AMI detection of this cluster is 7.9 \times 10^4:1; alternatively assuming Jenkins et al. (2001) as the true prior, the formal Bayesian probability ratio of detection is 2.1 \times 10^5:1. (b) The cluster mass is MT,200 = 5.5+1.2\times 10^14h-1M\odot. (c) Abandoning a physical model with num- -1.3 70 ber density prior and instead simply modelling the SZ decrement using a phenomenological {\beta}-model of temperature decrement as a function of angular distance, we find a central SZ temperature decrement of -295+36 {\mu}K - this allows for CMB primary anisotropies, receiver -15 noise and radio sources. We are unsure if the cluster system we observe is a merging system or two separate clusters.Comment: accepted MNRAS. 12 pages, 9 figure
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