In radio astronomy, the accurate removal of foregrounds from images is crucial for preparing instruments like the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) for optimal observation. Foregrounds typically refer to radio signals emitted by sources within our own Milky Way galaxy or nearby galaxies. These signals can obscure or contaminate the faint 21cm signal from the neutral hydrogen, important to study the distribution of distant galaxies especially during the epoch of reionization.
The SKA, being a highly sensitive and powerful radio telescope, requires precise foreground removal techniques to achieve its scientific objectives effectively. But due to the absence of a model depicting the intricate details of Galactic emission or sources of foregrounds contaminations at SKA-LOW frequencies, performing the component separation from the dataset poses a notable challenge.
Team Members:
Objectives:
The primary objective of this project is to develop a code designed specifically to perform component separation in radio data. There will be two steps:
- Design a new code based on pre-existing codes developed by collaborators of the team such as DecGMCA.
- Try the code on state of the art simulations of radio data and study the limitations.
- Performing forecast in the specific case of SKA including the corresponding instrument responses and noises, and study their impact on the results.