Repository logo
 

First Results on the Epoch of Reionization from First Light with SARAS 2

Published version
Peer-reviewed

Loading...
Thumbnail Image

Type

Article

Change log

Abstract

Long wavelength spectral distortions in the Cosmic Microwave Background arising from the 21-cm transition in neutral Hydrogen are a key probe of Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionization. These features may reveal the nature of the first stars and ultra-faint galaxies that transformed the spin temperature and ionization state of the primordial gas. SARAS~2 is a spectral radiometer purposely designed for precision measurement of these monopole or all-sky global 21-cm spectral distortions. We use 63~hr night time observing of the radio background in the frequency band 110-200~MHz with the radiometer deployed at the Timbaktu Collective in Southern India to derive likelihoods for plausible redshifted 21-cm signals predicted by theoretical models. First light with SARAS 2 disfavors the class of models that feature weak X-ray heating (with fX≤0.1) and rapid reionization (with peak dTbdz≥120 mK per unit redshift interval ).

Description

Keywords

cosmic background radiation, cosmology: observations, dark ages, reionization, first stars, methods: observational

Journal Title

Astrophysical Journal Letters

Conference Name

Journal ISSN

2041-8205
2041-8213

Volume Title

845

Publisher

American Astronomical Society

Rights

All rights reserved