Characterization of the EDGES receiver and its capability for constraining the EoR

The Experiment to Detect the Global EoR Signature (EDGES) is attempting to place constraints on parameters that characterize the Epoch of Reionization (EoR). This is an important period of the Universe in which the intergalactic medium, mostly atomic Hydrogen (HI), transitioned from a neutral to an ionized state. Models and observations suggest that the EoR occurred between redshifts 13 and 6. There are predictions for the average evolution of HI in this period in the form of a characteristic signature of 21-cm radiation as a function of redshift. This radiation (emitted originally at about 1.4 GHz) needs to be measured in the 100–200 MHz range due to cosmological expansion. The goal of EDGES is to detect this signature using an extremely well characterized spectrometer.