Fast Holographic Deconvolution: a new technique for precision radio interferometry

TL;DR

The paper presents Fast Holographic Deconvolution, a rapid and precise method for analyzing interferometric radio data, crucial for future cosmological observations.

Contribution

It introduces a faster deconvolution technique extending existing methods, maintaining high precision while significantly reducing computation time.

Findings

Effective and precise on MWA data

Significantly faster than existing methods

Potential impact on Epoch of Reionization studies

Abstract

We introduce the Fast Holographic Deconvolution method for analyzing interferometric radio data. Our new method is an extension of A-projection/software-holography/forward modeling analysis techniques and shares their precision deconvolution and widefield polarimetry, while being significantly faster than current implementations that use full direction-dependent antenna gains. Using data from the MWA 32 antenna prototype, we demonstrate the effectiveness and precision of our new algorithm. Fast Holographic Deconvolution may be particularly important for upcoming 21 cm cosmology observations of the Epoch of Reionization and Dark Energy where foreground subtraction is intimately related to the precision of the data reduction.