Cross-correlation Techniques to Mitigate the Interloper Contamination for Line Intensity Mapping Experiments

Abstract

Line intensity mapping (LIM) serves as a potent probe in astrophysics, relying on the statistical analysis of integrated spectral line emissions originating from distant star-forming galaxies. While LIM observations hold the promise of achieving a broad spectrum of scientific objectives, a significant hurdle for future experiments lies in distinguishing the targeted spectral line emitted at a specific redshift from undesired line emissions originating at different redshifts. The presence of these interloping lines poses a challenge to the accuracy of cosmological analyses. In this study, we introduce a novel approach to quantify line–line cross-correlations (LIM-LLX), enabling us to investigate the target signal amid instrumental noise and interloping emissions. For example, at a redshift of z ∼ 3.7, we observed that the measured auto-power spectrum of C ii 158 exhibited substantial bias, from interloping line emission. However, cross-correlating C ii 158 with CO(6–5) lines using an FYST-like experiment yielded a promising result, with a signal-to-noise ratio of ∼10. This measurement is notably unbiased. Additionally, we explore the extensive capabilities of cross-correlation by leveraging various CO transitions to probe the tomographic Universe at lower redshifts through LIM-LLX. We further demonstrate that incorporating low-frequency channels, such as 90 and 150 GHz, into FYST’s EoR-Spec-like experiment can maximize the potential for cross-correlation studies, effectively reducing the bias introduced by instrumental noise and interlopers.