The 21-cm absorption profile is detected in the sky-averaged radio spectrum, but is much stronger than predicted, suggesting that the primordial gas might have been cooler than predicted. As the first stars heated hydrogen in the early Universe, the 21-cm hyperfine line—an astronomical standard that represents the spin-flip transition in the ground state of atomic hydrogen—was altered, causing the hydrogen gas to absorb photons from the microwave background. This should produce an observable absorption signal at frequencies of less than 200 megahertz (MHz). Judd Bowman and colleagues report the observation of an absorption profile centred at a frequency of 78 MHz that is about 19 MHz wide and 0.5 kelvin deep. The profile is generally in line with expectations, although it is deeper than predicted. An accompanying paper by Rennan Barkana suggests that baryons were interacting with cold dark-matter particles in the early Universe, cooling the gas more than had been expected. After stars formed in the early Universe, their ultraviolet light is expected, eventually, to have penetrated the primordial hydrogen gas and altered the excitation state of its 21-centimetre hyperfine line. This alteration would cause the gas to absorb photons from the cosmic microwave background, producing a spectral distortion that should be observable today at radio frequencies of less than 200 megahertz1. Here we report the detection of a flattened absorption profile in the sky-averaged radio spectrum, which is centred at a frequency of 78 megahertz and has a best-fitting full-width at half-maximum of 19 megahertz and an amplitude of 0.5 kelvin. The profile is largely consistent with expectations for the 21-centimetre signal induced by early stars; however, the best-fitting amplitude of the profile is more than a factor of two greater than the largest predictions2. This discrepancy suggests that either the primordial gas was much colder than expected or the background radiation temperature was hotter than expected. Astrophysical phenomena (such as radiation from stars and stellar remnants) are unlikely to account for this discrepancy; of the proposed extensions to the standard model of cosmology and particle physics, only cooling of the gas as a result of interactions between dark matter and baryons seems to explain the observed amplitude3. The low-frequency edge of the observed profile indicates that stars existed and had produced a background of Lyman-α photons by 180 million years after the Big Bang. The high-frequency edge indicates that the gas was heated to above the radiation temperature less than 100 million years later.

An absorption profile centred at 78 megahertz in the sky-averaged spectrum

The techniques and technologies currently being investigated to detect weapons and contraband concealed on persons under clothing are reviewed. The basic phenomenology of the atmosphere and materials that must be understood in order to realize such a system are discussed. The component issues and architectural designs needed to realize systems are outlined. Some conclusions with respect to further technology developments are presented.

Standoff Detection of Weapons and Contraband in the 100 GHz to 1 THz Region

Author(s): DeBoer, David R; Parsons, Aaron R; Aguirre, James E; Alexander, Paul; Ali, Zaki S; Beardsley, Adam P; Bernardi, Gianni; Bowman, Judd D; Bradley, Richard F; Carilli, Chris L; Cheng, Carina; Acedo, Eloy de Lera; Dillon, Joshua S; Ewall-Wice, Aaron; Fadana, Gcobisa; Fagnoni, Nicolas; Fritz, Randall; Furlanetto, Steve R; Glendenning, Brian; Greig, Bradley; Grobbelaar, Jasper; Hazelton, Bryna J; Hewitt, Jacqueline N; Hickish, Jack; Jacobs, Daniel C; Julius, Austin; Kariseb, MacCalvin; Kohn, Saul A; Lekalake, Telalo; Liu, Adrian; Loots, Anita; MacMahon, David; Malan, Lourence; Malgas, Cresshim; Maree, Matthys; Martinot, Zachary; Mathison, Nathan; Matsetela, Eunice; Mesinger, Andrei; Morales, Miguel F; Neben, Abraham R; Patra, Nipanjana; Pieterse, Samantha; Pober, Jonathan C; Razavi-Ghods, Nima; Ringuette, Jon; Robnett, James; Rosie, Kathryn; Sell, Raddwine; Smith, Craig; Syce, Angelo; Tegmark, Max; Thyagarajan, Nithyanandan; Williams, Peter K. G; Zheng, Haoxuan

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1538-3873/129/974/045001/pdf

Hydrogen epoch of reionization array (HERA)

The Murchison Widefield Array is a dipole-based aperture array synthesis telescope designed to operate in the 80-300 MHz frequency range. It is capable of a wide range of science investigations but is initially focused on three key science projects: detection and characterization of three-dimensional brightness temperature fluctuations in the 21 cm line of neutral hydrogen during the epoch of reionization (EoR) at redshifts from six to ten; solar imaging and remote sensing of the inner heliosphere via propagation effects on signals from distant background sources; and high-sensitivity exploration of the variable radio sky. The array design features 8192 dual-polarization broadband active dipoles, arranged into 512 ldquotilesrdquo comprising 16 dipoles each. The tiles are quasi-randomly distributed over an aperture 1.5 km in diameter, with a small number of outliers extending to 3 km. All tile-tile baselines are correlated in custom field-programmable gate array based hardware, yielding a Nyquist-sampled instantaneous monochromatic uv coverage and unprecedented point spread function quality. The correlated data are calibrated in real time using novel position-dependent self-calibration algorithms. The array is located in the Murchison region of outback Western Australia. This region is characterized by extremely low population density and a superbly radio-quiet environment, allowing full exploitation of the instrumental capabilities.

/pdf/the-murchison-widefield-array-design-overview-1op0axbp6l.pdf

The Murchison Widefield Array: Design Overview

Cooperating Organizations American Astronomical Society (United States) • Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy (ASTRON) (Netherlands) • Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation (United States) Canadian Astronomical Society (CASCA) (Canada) • European Astronomical Society (Switzerland) • ESO—European Southern Observatory (Germany) • International Astronomical Union • Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute (KASI) (Republic of Korea) • National Radio Astronomy Observatory • POPSud (France) • TNO (Netherlands)

/pdf/ground-based-and-airborne-telescopes-iii-2e6sjio423.pdf

Ground-based and Airborne Telescopes III

Design of a Wideband Radio Telescope

This paper presents a new technique to reject the radio frequency interference (RFI) from the nearby radar at 9.4 GHz, which causes about 20% blockage of the sky coverage in the Very Long Baseline Inter ferometry (VLBI) telescope at the Goddard Geophysical Astronomical Observatory (GGAO), in Greenbelt, MD. An internal notch filter is proposed by inserting and optimizing two-quarter wavelength slots within the wide band Quad-Ridge Flared Horn (QRFH) feed to achieve RFI band rejection at 9.4 GHz. The simulated result shows about 95 % rejection at 9.4 GHz. The estimated attenuation due to the band rejection slots is of the order of .01 dB at frequencies distant from the rejection frequency. This technique will open the door for designing wideband feeds with RFI band rejection characteristics for different RFI sources.

Quadruple-ridged flared horn feed with internal RFI band rejection filter

We report the detection and interferometric localization of the repeating fast radio burst (FRB) source FRB 20220912A during commissioning observations with the Deep Synoptic Array (DSA-110). Two bursts were detected from FRB 20220912A, one each on 2022 October 18 and 2022 October 25. The best-fit position is (R.A. J2000, decl. J2000) = (23:09:04.9, +48:42:25.4), with a 90% confidence error ellipse with radii ±2″ and ±1″ in R.A. and decl., respectively. The two bursts are polarized, and we find a Faraday rotation measure that is consistent with the low value of +0.6 rad m−2 reported by CHIME/FRB. The DSA-110 localization overlaps with the galaxy PSO J347.2702+48.7066 at a redshift z = 0.0771, which we identify as the likely host. PSO J347.2702+48.7066 has a stellar mass of approximately 1010 M ⊙, modest internal dust extinction, and a star formation rate likely in excess of 0.1 M ⊙ yr−1. The host-galaxy contribution to the dispersion measure is likely ≲50 pc cm−3. The FRB 20220912A source is therefore likely viewed along a tenuous plasma column through the host galaxy.

https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.3847/2041-8213/acc4b6/pdf

Deep Synoptic Array Science: Discovery of the Host Galaxy of FRB 20220912A

A quadrature downconverter with 4 GHz IF bandwidth and working over the 0.5-20 GHz RF frequency range has been designed, fabricated, and tested. The downconverter uses a frequency doubling and dividing scheme to generate quadrature local oscillator signals from 0.5-17 GHz and a pair of Gilbert-cell mixers to perform downconversion. When the IF outputs are combined with a commercial quadrature hybrid, the mixer achieves an image rejection ratio greater than 35 dB over the entire band with no on-chip calibration or tuning. The active die area is approximately 0.5times1 mm2.

A 0.5–20GHz quadrature downconverter

Current and future large arrays for radio astronomy are compared and the Next Generation Very Large Array, ngVLA, is introduced. Receiver requirements are described and a 4-feed system covering 1.2 to 116 GHz, in a single vacuum cryogenic enclosure is presented followed by description of the reflector optics, the wide-band feeds, and the expected system performance

Sander Weinreb

Papers

Design of a Wideband Radio Telescope

Quadruple-ridged flared horn feed with internal RFI band rejection filter

Deep Synoptic Array Science: Discovery of the Host Galaxy of FRB 20220912A

A 0.5–20GHz quadrature downconverter

Cryogenic 1.2 to 116 GHz Receiver for Large Arrays