Title: 21 cm signal recovery in SKA Data Challenge 3 

Speaker: Le Zhang 

 
Abstract: In this talk, I will review the recent results from the SKA Data Challenge 3 (SDC3), organized by the SKA Observatory in preparation for future SKA telescope surveys of the Epoch of Reionisation (EoR). The aim of SDC3 is to assess existing methods and develop new approaches for data analysis in anticipation of the SKA telescope deployment. SDC3 focuses on determining the timing of EoR through two independent parts: 1) Removal of foreground emission from Galactic and Extragalactic sources (SDC3a); 2) Inference of crucial parameters of EoR (SDC3b). SDC3a spanned 9 months, from March to November in 2023, while SDC3b is scheduled to release simulation data next month. I will discuss the common approaches used in 21cm foreground removal and detail the foreground removal strategy we utilized for SDC3a. 

 
Bio: Le Zhang obtained his PhD in Astroparticle Physics from Hamburg University, Germany. Following this, he worked as a postdoc at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before obtaining a tenure-track faculty position at SJTU. In 2021, he moved to Sun Yat-Sen University as an Associate Professor. Le's current research focuses on utilizing big data, developing various source separation algorithms, Bayesian statistics, and machine learning to extract physical information about the Universe. He is a key member of the AliCPT collaboration, a participant in the Tianlai 21 cm collaboration, and a member of the Murchison Widefield Array (MWA). In 2023, He achieved first place in the SKA Data Challenge 3 on recovering the EoR signal. 

Time: 13:30-14:30PM, 8/May, Wednesday 

Venue: Room 508 (large seminar room), Department of Astronomy 

You can also access the colloquium via :

https://www.koushare.com/homepage/329883