A status update on TIME: a mm-wavelength spectrometer designed to probe the Epoch of Reionization

Abstract

TIME is an instrument being developed to study emission from faint objects in our universe using line intensity mapping (LIM) to understand the universe over cosmic time. The TIME instrument is a mm-wavelength grating spectrometer with Transition Edge Sensor (TES) bolometers measuring in the frequency range of 200-300 GHz with 60 spectral pixels and 16 spatial pixels. TIME will measure [CII] emission from redshift 5 to 9 to probe the evolution of our universe during the epoch of reionization. TIME will also measure low-redshift CO fluctuations and map molecular gas in the epoch of peak cosmic star formation from redshift 0.5 to 2. This instrument and the emerging technique of LIM will provide complementary measurements to typical galaxy surveys and illuminate the history of our universe. TIME was recently installed on the 12m ALMA prototype antenna operated by the Arizona Radio Observatory on Kitt Peak for an engineering test and will return for science observations in 2020.

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