Events on Thursday, August 22nd, 2024
- Line Intensity Mapping: A Novel Technique to Measure Large Scale Structure and Galaxy Evolution
- Time: 2:00 pm - 4:00 pm
- Place: B343, Sterling Hall
- Speaker: Sam Kramer, Physics PhD Graduate Student
- Abstract: Understanding the formation and development of the Universe's large scale structure (LSS) is the primary goal of cosmology. The earliest stage of the Universe has been well-measured via the cosmic microwave background, and traditional, large-spectrum surveys have mapped the most recent epochs. Line intensity mapping (LIM) is a novel technique that seeks to fill in the billions of years of evolution in between. LIM experiments record the atomic/molecular transition line emissions of common galactic constituents from many galaxies at once, requiring less integration time and lower resolutions to efficiently map LSS over a broad range of redshifts. The EXperiment for Cryogenic Large-Aperture Intensity Mapping (EXCLAIM) is a LIM pathfinding mission that seeks to measure the [CII] emission line of ionized carbon at redshifts 2.5 to 3.5, corresponding to a period in the Universe with the highest rates of new star formation. [CII] is believed to be a tracer of both star formation and the large scale structure of the universe, but current empirical models for this relationship vary across orders of magnitude. Using simulations and existing survey data, we can develop cross-correlation techniques like the cross power spectrum, stacking, and the conditional voxel intensity distribution to predict [CII] detection at high SNRs and constrain the [CII] emission models with EXCLAIM.
- Host: Peter Timbie