Jonathan Pritchard - May 27, 2016

Mapping the Epoch of Reionization with SKA

Existing observations of the CMB with Planck and of high redshift galaxies with
Hubble only serve to outline an unobserved period in the history of the Universe
, often known as the Cosmic Dawn and the Epoch of Reionization. 21cm observations
with low frequency interferometers such as LOFAR, HERA, and SKA aim to map this
period in great detail. In this talk, I will discuss the physics of the 21cm line
and connect that to statistical probes of the 21cm signal, especially the power
spectrum, one-point statistics, and bispectrum. I will also describe the
possibility of inferring the CMB optical depth from 21cm observations and so
helping cosmological parameter determination.