| Cosmological Constraints from 21cm Surveys After Reionization (2008) | |||||||||
Abstract | |||||||||
| 21cm emission from residual neutral hydrogen after the epoch of reionization can be used to trace the cosmological power spectrum of density fluctuations. Using a Fisher matrix formulation, we provide a detailed forecast of the constraints on cosmological parameters that are achievable with this probe. We consider two designs: a scaled-up version of the MWA observatory as well as a Fast Fourier Transform Telescope. We find that 21cm observations dedicated to post-reionization redshifts may yield significantly better constraints than next generation Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) experiments. We find the constraints on $\Omega_\Lambda$, $\Omega_m h^2$, and $\Omega_\nu h^2$ to be the strongest, each improved by at least an order of magnitude over the Planck CMB satellite alone for both designs. In difference from similar 21cm surveys of the epoch of reionization, our results do not depend strongly on uncertainties in the astrophysics associated with the ionization of hydrogen.. Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures; Section 2 added for clarity and motivation | |||||||||
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