Reionization and the Cosmic Dawn with the Square Kilometre Array

• DOI: 10.1007/s10686-013-9334-5
• Publication Date: 2013-05-01T11:39:25Z
• Authors: Garrelt Mellema; Léon V. E. Koopmans; Filipe A. Abdalla; Gianni Bernardi; Benedetta Ciardi; Soobash Daiboo; A. G. de Bruyn; Kanan K. Datta; Heino Falcke; Andrea Ferrara; Ilian T. Iliev; Fabio Iocco; Vibor Jelić; Hannes Jensen; Ronniy Joseph; Panos Labroupoulos; Avery Meiksin; Andrei Mesinger; André R. Offringa; V. N. Pandey; Jonathan R. Pritc...; Mario G. Santos; Dominik J. Schwarz; Benoit Semelin; Harish Vedantham; Sarod Yatawatta; Saleem Zaroubi
• Keywords: 21 CENTIMETER FLUCTUATIONS; MURCHISON-WIDEFIELD-ARRAY; Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics (astro-ph.CO); Diffuse radiation; Techniques: Interferometric; Astronomy; FOS: Physical sciences; 530; Cosmology: Observations; 7. Clean energy; LY-ALPHA EMITTERS; H-II REGIONS; Reionization; Cosmology: Observations; Dark ages; Reionization; First stars; Diffuse radiation; Intergalactic medium; Radio lines: General; Techniques: Interferometric; First stars; Intergalactic medium; QB; SOUTH-POLE TELESCOPE; REDSHIFTED 21-CM MAPS; Cosmology: Observations; Dark ages; Diffuse radiation; First stars; Intergalactic medium; Radio lines: General; Reionization; Techniques: Interferometric; 520; SMALL-SCALE FLUCTUATIONS; ULTRA-DEEP-FIELD; 13. Climate action; Dark ages; INFRARED BACKGROUND EXCESS; Radio lines: General; [PHYS.ASTR]Physics [physics]/Astrophysics [astro-ph]; INTERGALACTIC MEDIUM; Astrophysics - Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics

Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy, reformatted to 57 pages, some updated and improved figures and minor changes and updates to the text<br/>The Square Kilometre Array (SKA) will have a low frequency component (SKA-low) which has as one of its main science goals the study of the redshifted 21cm line from the earliest phases of star and galaxy formation in the Universe. This 21cm signal provides a new and unique window on both the formation of the first stars and accreting black holes and the later period of substantial ionization of the intergalactic medium. The signal will teach us fundamental new things about the earliest phases of structure formation, cosmology and even has the potential to lead to the discovery of new physical phenomena. Here we present a white paper with an overview of the science questions that SKA-low can address, how we plan to tackle these questions and what this implies for the basic design of the telescope.<br/>