Speaker
Description
The Remote HI eNvironment Observer (RHINO) is a 21-cm global signal experiment currently under construction at Jodrell Bank Observatory. RHINO aims to follow up the 2018 EDGES result by using independent observing strategies and calibration methods to make absolutely calibrated measurements between 60 and 80 MHz. The instrument will be built around a large horn antenna. The rationale for using such an antenna is the great characterisability of the beam as well as decreased sensitivity to ground conditions which may introduce systematic spectral features across our band of interest. An overview will be provided of our current work in commissioning the receiver which will use a continuous wave gain calibration strategy to suppress the effects of 1/f noise. Electromagnetic simulations of the RHINO beam pattern, how its frequency response couples to the galactic foreground structure and how this impacts the recovery of the potential 21-cm signal will also be presented.
