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R. Bradley (NRAO - U. Virginia), D. Backer, A. Parsons (U. C. Berkeley), C. Parashare, N. E. Gugliucci (U. Virginia)
We are developing an experiment along with the associated instrumentation for the detection of the faint HI signature of the Epoch of Reionization predicted by current models. The challenge of this experiment is in our ability to 1) distinguish the HI signal from foreground contaminants such as discrete sources and galactic synchrotron radiation, 2) understand and effectively control systematic errors within the instrument, and 3) mitigate the effects of Faraday rotation. We have adopted an evolutionary approach to implementing this experiment that allows us to carefully study the factors limiting stability and sensitivity together with those that compound the problem of wide-field imaging. The results of these investigations are folded into the design of the next generation instrument.
We will report on our progress toward the realization of PAPER-32: a portable, 32-element, dual-polarization, wide-field imaging array to be deployed in Green Bank, WV in 2006. This array will operate over the 100-200 MHz band and have a maximum baseline of 300 meters. We will provide details of the instrumentation and highlight preliminary results. In addition, we will present our concept for PAPER-128, the next-generation instrument that we plan to deploy in Western Australia.
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Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #4
© 2005. The American Astronomical Soceity.