| Name: | Tomáš Šoltinský |
| Affiliation: | Tata Institute of Fundamental Research |
| Conference ID : | ASI2024_608 |
| Title : | Prospects of statistical detection of the 21-cm forest by the uGMRT |
| Authors : | Tomáš Šoltinský, Girish Kulkarni |
| Authors Affiliation: | Tomáš Šoltinský, Girish Kulkarni (Tata intitute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai 400005, India) |
| Mode of Presentation: | Oral |
| Abstract Category : | Galaxies and Cosmology |
| Abstract : | The cosmological 21-cm forest, a series of absorption lines in the spectra of high-z radio-loud sources arising from the hyperfine structure of neutral hydrogen residing in the intergalactic medium (IGM), has a potential to be a unique probe of the nature of dark matter and ionization and thermal state of the IGM during the Epoch of Reionization. I will argue that now may be the right time to try to detect the 21-cm forest signal because of (1) recent evidence that reionization ended as late as z<5.5; (2) increase in the number of known high-z radio-loud quasars; (3) uGMRT's superior sensitivity. In this context, I will present our models of the 21-cm forest signal based on state-of-the-art cosmological simulations. I will discuss the detectability of this signal by the uGMRT, both direct detection of individual absorption lines and statistical detection. I will argue that the detection of the 21-cm forest power spectrum with the uGMRT is possible with realistic observational setup. I will finish this talk by showing that the uGMRT provides a unique opportunity to constrain the ionization and thermal state of the IGM during the reionization by utilizing the spectroscopical observations of the 21-cm forest signal. |
