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Intensity Mapping
In cosmology, intensity mapping is an observational technique for surveying the large-scale structure of the universe by using the integrated radio emission from unresolved gas clouds. In its most common variant, 21 cm intensity mapping, the 21 cm emission line of neutral hydrogen is used to trace the gas. The hydrogen follows fluctuations in the underlying cosmic density field, with regions of higher density giving rise to a higher intensity of emission. Intensity fluctuations can therefore be used to reconstruct the power spectrum of matter fluctuations. The frequency of the emission line is redshifted by the expansion of the Universe, so by using radio receivers that cover a wide frequency band, one can detect this signal as a function of redshift, and thus cosmic time. This is similar in principle to a galaxy redshift survey, with the important distinction that galaxies need to be individually detected and measured, making intensity mapping a considerably faster method. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Large-scale Structure Of The Universe
The observable universe is a spherical region of the universe consisting of all matter that can be observed from Earth; the electromagnetic radiation from these objects has had time to reach the Solar System and Earth since the beginning of the cosmological expansion. Assuming the universe is isotropic, the distance to the edge of the observable universe is the same in every direction. That is, the observable universe is a spherical region centered on the observer. Every location in the universe has its own observable universe, which may or may not overlap with the one centered on Earth. The word ''observable'' in this sense does not refer to the capability of modern technology to detect light or other information from an object, or whether there is anything to be detected. It refers to the physical limit created by the speed of light itself. No signal can travel faster than light, hence there is a maximum distance, called the particle horizon, beyond which nothing can be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Baryon Acoustic Oscillations
In cosmology, baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) are fluctuations in the density of the visible baryonic matter (normal matter) of the universe, caused by Acoustics, acoustic density waves in the primordial plasma of the early universe. In the same way that supernovae provide a "standard candle" for astronomical observations, BAO matter clustering provides a "standard ruler" for length scale in cosmology. The length of this standard ruler is given by the maximum distance the acoustic waves could travel in the primordial plasma before the plasma cooled to the point where it became neutral atoms (Recombination (cosmology), the epoch of recombination), which stopped the expansion of the plasma density waves, "freezing" them into place. The length of this standard ruler (≈490 million light years in today's universe ) can be measured by looking at the Large-scale structure of the universe, large scale structure of matter using astronomical surveys. BAO measurements help cosmologi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Precision Array For Probing The Epoch Of Reionization
The Donald C. Backer Precision Array for Probing the Epoch of Reionization (PAPER) is a radio interferometer funded by the National Science Foundation to detect 21 cm hydrogen (HI) fluctuations occurring when the first galaxies ionized intergalactic gas at around 500 million years after the Big Bang. PAPER is a focused experiment aimed toward making the first statistical detection of the 21 cm reionization signal. Given the stringent dynamic range requirements for detecting reionization in the face of foregrounds that are five orders of magnitude brighter, the PAPER project is taking a carefully staged engineering approach, optimizing each component in the array to mitigate, at the outset, any potentially debilitating problems in subsequent data calibration and analysis. This staged approach addresses the observational challenges that arise from very-wide-field, high-dynamic-range imaging over wide bandwidths in the presence of transient terrestrial interference. PAPER b ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Parkes Radio Telescope
Parkes Observatory is a radio astronomy observatory, located north of the town of Parkes, New South Wales, Australia. It hosts Murriyang, the 64 m CSIRO Parkes Radio Telescope also known as "The Dish", along with two smaller radio telescopes. The 64 m dish was one of several radio antennae used to receive live television images of the Apollo 11 Moon landing. Its scientific contributions over the decades led the ABC to describe it as "the most successful scientific instrument ever built in Australia" after 40 years of operation. The Parkes Observatory is run by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO), as part of the Australia Telescope National Facility (ATNF) network of radio telescopes. It is frequently operated together with other CSIRO radio telescopes, principally the array of six dishes at the Australia Telescope Compact Array near Narrabri, and a single dish at Mopra (near Coonabarabran), to form a very long baseline interferometry ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
MeerKAT
The meerkat (''Suricata suricatta'') or suricate is a small mongoose found in southern Africa. It is characterised by a broad head, large eyes, a pointed snout, long legs, a thin tapering tail, and a brindled coat pattern. The head-and-body length is around , and the weight is typically between . The coat is light grey to yellowish-brown with alternate, poorly-defined light and dark bands on the back. Meerkats have foreclaws adapted for digging and have the ability to thermoregulate to survive in their harsh, dry habitat. Three subspecies are recognised. Meerkats are highly sociality, social, and form packs of two to 30 individuals each that occupy home ranges around in area. There is a social dominance hierarchy, hierarchy—generally Dominance (ethology), dominant individuals in a pack breed and produce offspring, and the nonbreeding, subordinate members provide Altruism (biology), altruistic care to the pups. Breeding occurs around the year, with peaks during heavy rainf ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
KAT7
KAT-7 is a radio telescope situated in the Meerkat National Park, in the Northern Cape of South Africa. Developed as the precursor engineering test bed to the larger MeerKAT telescope, previously known as Karoo Array Telescope (KAT), it has become a science instrument in its own right. The construction was completed in 2011 and commissioning in 2012. It also served as a technology demonstrator for South Africa's bid to host the Square Kilometre Array. KAT-7 is the first Radio telescope to be built with a composite reflector and uses a stirling pump for 75 K cryogenic cooling. The telescope was built to test various system for the MeerKAT array, from the ROACH correlators designed and manufactured in Cape Town, now used by various telescopes internationally, to composite construction techniques. Technical specifications KAT-7 consist of 7 dishes of 12 metres in diameter, each a prime focus reflecting telescope. Performance In April 2010 four of the seven dishes were ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Five Hundred Meter Aperture Spherical Telescope
The Five-hundred-meter Aperture Spherical Telescope (FAST; ), nicknamed Tianyan (, lit. "Sky's/Heaven's Eye"), is a radio telescope located in the Dawodang depression (), a natural basin in Pingtang County, Guizhou, southwestern China. FAST has a diameter dish constructed in a natural depression in the landscape. It is the world's largest single-dish telescope. It has a novel design, using an active surface made of 4,500 metal panels which form a moving parabola shape in real time. The cabin containing the feed antenna, suspended on cables above the dish, can move automatically by using winches to steer the instrument to receive signals from different directions. It observes at wavelengths of 10 cm to 4.3 m. Construction of FAST began in 2011. It observed first light in September 2016. After three years of testing and commissioning, it was declared fully operational on 11 January 2020. The telescope made its first discovery, of two new pulsars, in August 2017. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
BINGO (telescope)
BINGO (Baryon Acoustic Oscillations from Integrated Neutral Gas Observations) is a transit telescope, transit radio telescope currently under construction that will observe redshifted hydrogen line emission (between z = 0.13 and 0.45) by intensity mapping to measure dark energy through baryon acoustic oscillations (BAO) in the radio frequency band. The BINGO Project is an international collaboration headed by University of São Paulo, and also collaborates with researches from many countries, such as Brazil (National Institute of Space Research and Federal University of Campina Grande), China (University of Yangzhou) and England (University of Manchester and University College of London), besides support from institutions as Shanghai Jiao Tong (China), Institute for Basic Science (South Korea), IAP - Institut d’Astrophysique de Paris (France), University of Rome (Italy), IAC - Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias (Spain), Max Planck Institute (Germany), KwaZulu-Natal Universit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Correlation Function (astronomy)
In astronomy, a correlation function describes the distribution of objects (often stars or galaxies) in the universe. By default, "correlation function" refers to the two-point autocorrelation function. The two-point autocorrelation function is a function of one variable (distance); it describes the excess probability of finding two galaxies separated by this distance (excess over and above the probability that would arise if the galaxies were simply scattered independently and with uniform probability). It can be thought of as a "clumpiness" factor - the higher the value for some distance scale, the more "clumpy" the universe is at that distance scale. The following definition (from Peebles 1980) is often cited: : ''Given a random galaxy in a location, the correlation function describes the probability that another galaxy will be found within a given distance.'' However, it can only be correct in the statistical sense that it is averaged over a large number of galaxies cho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Inflation (cosmology)
In physical cosmology, cosmic inflation, cosmological inflation, or just inflation, is a theory of exponential expansion of space in the very early universe. Following the inflationary period, the universe continued to expand, but at a slower rate. The re-acceleration of this slowing expansion due to dark energy began after the universe was already over 7.7 billion years old (5.4 billion years ago). Inflation theory was developed in the late 1970s and early 1980s, with notable contributions by several theoretical physicists, including Alexei Starobinsky at Landau Institute for Theoretical Physics, Alan Guth at Cornell University, and Andrei Linde at Lebedev Physical Institute. Starobinsky, Guth, and Linde won the 2014 Kavli Prize "for pioneering the theory of cosmic inflation". It was developed further in the early 1980s. It explains the origin of the large-scale structure of the cosmos. Quantum fluctuations in the microscopic inflationary region, magnified t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Non-Gaussianity
In physics, a non-Gaussianity is the correction that modifies the expected Gaussian function estimate for the measurement of a physical quantity. In physical cosmology, the fluctuations of the cosmic microwave background The cosmic microwave background (CMB, CMBR), or relic radiation, is microwave radiation that fills all space in the observable universe. With a standard optical telescope, the background space between stars and galaxies is almost completely dar ... are known to be approximately Gaussian, both theoretically as well as experimentally. However, most theories predict some level of non-Gaussianity in the primordial density field. Detection of these non-Gaussian signatures will allow discrimination between various models of inflation and their alternatives. References External linksTesting gaussianity, homogeneity and isotropy with the cosmic microwave background Measurement Physical cosmology {{physical-cosmology-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Megaparsec
The parsec (symbol: pc) is a unit of length used to measure the large distances to astronomical objects outside the Solar System, approximately equal to or (AU), i.e. . The parsec unit is obtained by the use of parallax and trigonometry, and is defined as the distance at which 1 AU subtends an angle of one arcsecond ( of a degree). The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is about from the Sun: from that distance, the gap between the Earth and the Sun spans slightly less than one arcsecond. Most stars visible to the naked eye are within a few hundred parsecs of the Sun, with the most distant at a few thousand parsecs, and the Andromeda Galaxy at over 700,000 parsecs. The word ''parsec'' is a shortened form of ''a distance corresponding to a parallax of one second'', coined by the British astronomer Herbert Hall Turner in 1913. The unit was introduced to simplify the calculation of astronomical distances from raw observational data. Partly for this reason, it is the unit preferr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
