Reconstructing the Anisotropic Ultra-long Wavelength Spectra using a Single Antenna on Lunar-orbit

TL;DR

This paper introduces a novel method to reconstruct the anisotropic ultra-long wavelength sky spectra using a single lunar-orbit antenna, enabling detailed sky mapping with minimal instrumentation.

Contribution

It presents a new technique leveraging lunar occultation and antenna beam anisotropy to reconstruct sky spectra from a single antenna, demonstrated with simulated data.

Findings

Spectra for different sky regions can be accurately reconstructed.

The method can identify free-free absorption features in the spectra.

Feasibility of ultra-long wavelength sky mapping with limited lunar-orbit instruments.

Abstract

The ultra-long wavelength sky ($\nu\lesssim 30$ MHz) is still largely unexplored, as the electromagnetic wave is heavily absorbed and distorted by the ionosphere on Earth. The far-side of the Moon, either in lunar-orbit or on lunar-surface, is the ideal site for observations in this band, and the upcoming Moon-based interferometers will obtain multi-frequency high-resolution sky maps. Making use of the lunar occultation of the sky and the anisotropy of antenna primary beam response, we propose a novel method to reconstruct the ultra-long wavelength spectral shape in multiple directions in the sky using only one antenna on lunar orbit. We apply the method to one antenna on one of the nine daughter satellites of the proposed Discovering the Sky at Longest wavelength (DSL) project. Using simulated observation data between 1 - 30 MHz from one dipole antenna, we find that the spectra for different regions on the sky can be reconstructed very well and the free-free absorption feature in each region can be derived from the reconstructed spectra. This work demonstrates the feasibility to reconstruct the anisotropic ultra-long wavelength spectra with very limited instrumentation on a lunar-orbit, with mature technologies already in place. It extends the application of such kind of satellite in revealing the distribution of free electrons in the Galactic interstellar medium from the distribution of absorption features in the ultra-long wavelength sky.