Interpreting the Hi 21-cm cosmology maps through Largest Cluster Statistics. Part I. Impact of the synthetic SKA1-Low observations

We analyse the evolution of the largest ionized region using the topological and morphological evolution of the redshifted 21-cm signal coming from the neutral hydrogen distribution during the different stages of reionization. For this analysis, we use the Largest Cluster Statistics - LCS. We mainly study the impact of the array synthesized beam on the LCS analysis of the 21-cm signal considering the upcoming low-frequency Square Kilometer Array (SKA1-Low) observations using a realistic simulation for such observation based on the 21cmE2E-pipeline using OSKAR. We find that bias in LCS estimation is introduced in synthetic observations due to the array beam. This in turn shifts the apparent percolation transition point towards the later stages of reionization. The biased estimates of LCS, occurring due to the effect of the lower resolution (lack of longer baselines) and the telescope synthesized beam will lead to a biased interpretation of the reionization history. This is important to note while interpreting any future 21-cm signal images from upcoming or future telescopes like the SKA, HERA, etc. We conclude that one may need denser uv-coverage at longer baselines for a better deconvolution of the array synthesized beam from the 21-cm images and a relatively unbiased estimate of LCS from such images.

Automated summary

We analyze the evolution of the largest ionized region during reionization by studying the topological and morphological evolution of the redshifted 21-cm signal from neutral hydrogen. Using the Largest Cluster Statistics (LCS), we investigate the impact of the array synthesized beam on the LCS analysis of the 21-cm signal. We find that biased LCS estimates due to the effect of lower resolution and the telescope synthesized beam can lead to a biased interpretation of the reionization history.