Design and characterization of the Large-aperture Experiment to Detect the Dark Age (LEDA) radiometer systems
Date Issued
2018
Author(s)
Price, D. C.
•
Greenhill, L. J.
•
Fialkov, A.
•
•
Garsden, H.
•
Barsdell, B. R.
•
Kocz, J.
•
Anderson, M. M.
•
Bourke, S. A.
•
Craig, J.
•
Dexter, M. R.
•
Dowell, J.
•
Eastwood, M. W.
•
Eftekhari, T.
•
Ellingson, S. W.
•
Hallinan, G.
•
Hartman, J. M.
•
Kimberk, R.
•
Lazio, T. Joseph W.
•
Leiker, S.
•
MacMahon, D.
•
Monroe, R.
•
Schinzel, F.
•
Taylor, G. B.
•
Tong, E.
•
Werthimer, D.
•
Woody, D. P.
Abstract
The Large-aperture Experiment to Detect the Dark Age (LEDA) was designed to detect the predicted O(100) mK sky-averaged absorption of the cosmic microwave background by hydrogen in the neutral pre- and intergalactic medium just after the cosmological Dark Age. The spectral signature would be associated with emergence of a diffuse Lyα background from starlight during `Cosmic Dawn'. Recently, Bowman et al. have reported detection of this predicted absorption feature, with an unexpectedly large amplitude of 530 mK, centred at 78 MHz. Verification of this result by an independent experiment, such as LEDA, is pressing. In this paper, we detail design and characterization of the LEDA radiometer systems, and a first-generation pipeline that instantiates a signal path model. Sited at the Owens Valley Radio Observatory Long Wavelength Array, LEDA systems include the station correlator, five well-separated redundant dual polarization radiometers and back-end electronics. The radiometers deliver a 30-85 MHz band (16
Volume
478
Issue
3
Start page
4193
Issn Identifier
0035-8711
Ads BibCode
2018MNRAS.478.4193P
Rights
open.access
File(s)![Thumbnail Image]()
Loading...
Name
Price18.pdf
Description
Pdf editoriale
Size
25.43 MB
Format
Adobe PDF
Checksum (MD5)
fe25ad4353c7504914ca6d685af5beec