1204.3111 (A. P. Beardsley et al.)

The EoR Sensitivity of the 128 Antenna Murchison Widefield Array    [PDF]

A. P. Beardsley, B. J. Hazelton, M. F. Morales, W. Arcus, D. Barnes, G. Bernardi, J. D. Bowman, F. H. Briggs, J. D. Bunton, R. J. Cappallo, B. E. Corey, A. Deshpande, L. deSouza, D. Emrich, B. M. Gaensler, R. Goeke, L. J. Greenhill, D. Herne, J. N. Hewitt, M. Johnston-Hollit, D. L. Kaplan, J. C. Kasper, B. B. Kincaid, R. Koenig, E. Kratzenberg, C. J. Lonsdale, M. J. Lynch, S. R. McWhirter, D. A. Mitchell, E. Morgan, D. Oberoi, S. M. Ord, J. Pathikulangara, T. Prabu, R. A. Remillard, A. E. E. Rogers, A. Roshi, J. E. Salah, R. J. Sault, N. Udaya Shankar, K. S. Srivani, J. Stevens, R. Subrahmanyan, S. J. Tingay, R. B. Wayth, M. Waterson, R. L. Webster, A. R. Whitney, A. Williams, C. L. Williams, J. S. B. Wyithe

Using the planned antenna locations of the 128 antenna buildout of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA), we accurately calculate its sensitivity to the Epoch of Reionization (EoR) power spectrum of redshifted 21 cm emission. Our calculation takes into account synthesis rotation, chromatic and asymmetrical baseline effects, and excludes modes that will be contaminated by foreground subtraction. With one full season of observation on two fields (900 and 700 hours), the MWA will be capable of a 14$\sigma$ detection of the EoR signal along with slope constraints.

View original: http://arxiv.org/abs/1204.3111