The upcoming square kilometer array (SKA) is expected to produce humongous amount of data for undertaking Hi science. We have developed an MPI-based Python pipeline to deal with the large data efficiently with the present computational resources. Our pipeline divides such large Hi 21-cm spectral cubes into several small cubelets, and then processes them in parallel using publicly available Hi source finder SoFiA- 2. The pipeline also takes care of sources at the boundaries of the cubelets and also filters out false and redundant detections. By comapring with the true source catalog, we find that the detection efficiency depends on the SoFiA- 2 parameters, such as the smoothing kernel size, linking length and threshold values. We find the optimal kernel size for all flux bins to be between 3–5 and 7–15 pixels, respectively, in the spatial and frequency directions. Comparing the recovered source parameters with the original values, we find that the output of SoFiA- 2 is highly dependent on kernel sizes and a single choice of kernel is not sufficient for all types of Hi galaxies. We also propose the use of alternative methods to SoFiA- 2, which can be used in our pipeline to find sources more robustly.

Cosmic dawn (CD) and the epoch of reionization (EoR) are the most important parts of cosmic history during which the first luminous structures emerged. These first objects heated and ionized the neutral atomic hydrogen in the intergalactic medium. The redshifted 21-cm radiation from the atomic hydrogen providesan excellent direct probe to study the evolution of neutral hydrogen (Hi) and thus reveal nature of the first luminous objects, their evolution and role in this last phase transition of the Universe and formation and evolution of the structures thereafter. Direct mapping of the Hi density during the CD–EoR is rather difficult with thecurrent and forthcoming instruments due to stronger foreground and other observational contamination. The first detection of this redshifted Hi signal is expected to be done through statistical estimators. Given the upmost importance of the detection and analysis of the redshifted 21-cm signal, physics of CD–EoR is considered asone of the objective of the upcoming SKA-low telescope. This paper summarizes the collective effort of Indianastronomers to understand the origin of the redshifted 21-cm signal, sources of first ionizing photons, their propagation through the IGM, various cosmological effects on the expected 21-cm signal, various statistical measures of the signal like power spectrum, bispectrum, etc. A collective effort on detection of such signalby developing e stimators of the statistical measures with rigorous assessment of their expected uncertainties, various challenges like that of the large foreground emission and calibration issues are also discussed. Various versions of the detection methods discussed here have also been used in practice with the Giant MeterwaveRadio Telescope with successful assessment of the foreground contamination and upper limits on the matter density in reionization and post-reionization era. The collective efforts compiled here has been a large part of the global effort to prepare proper observational technique, analysis procedure for the first light of the CD–EoR through the SKA-low.

Detection of the redshifted 21-cm signal of neutral hydrogen from the cosmic dawn and the epoch of reionization (EoR) is one of the final frontiers of modern observational cosmology. The inherently faint signal makes it susceptible to contamination by several sources like astrophysical foregrounds and instrumental systematics. Nevertheless, developments achieved in the recent developments will combine to make signal detection possible with the upcoming Square Kilometer Array (SKA), both statistically and via tomography.This review describes an indigenously developed end-to-end pipeline that simulates sensitive interferometric observations. It mainly focuses on the requirements for Hi detection in interferometers. In its present form, it canmimic the effects of realistic point source foregrounds and systematics—calibration error and position error on 21-cm observations. The performance of the pipeline is demonstrated for test cases with 0.01% calibration errorand position error. Its performance is consistent across telescope, foreground and signal models. The focus of the simulation pipeline during the initial stages was for EoR science. But since this is a general interferometric simulation pipeline, it will be helpful to the entire SKA user community, irrespective of the science goals.