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The 21 cm radiation at very high redshifts: a new tool for Cosmology

By: Mário Santos
From: CENTRA - Instituto Superior Tecnico
At: Complexo Interdisciplinar, Anfiteatro
[2006-02-15] 11:30

Measurements of the 21 cm fluctuations are emerging as a powerful tool to explore the end of the cosmic dark ages and the reionization epoch. Since the 21 cm emission also traces the distribution of matter in the universe, this signal can be used to constrain cosmological parameters at redshifts 6 < z < 30. I will discuss the prospects for extracting detailed statistical properties of the 21 cm radiation at several frequencies, taking into account the huge foreground contamination. In particular I will show how well upcoming experiments will constrain the cosmological parameters and reionization model and discuss the great computational challenges involved in the data analysis.