Redshift drift effect through the observation of HI 21cm signal with SKA

Abstract

This study presents the findings of using the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) telescope to measure redshift drift via the HI 21cm signal, employing semi-annual observational interval within redshift around z $\sim$ 1 with main goal is to directly gauge the universe's expansion acceleration rate with millimeter-per-second (mm/s) precision. The SKA can detect over a billion HI 21cm emissions from individual galaxies to the redshift z $\sim$ 2 and thousands of absorption lines from Damped Lyman-alpha (DLA) systems against bright quasars to the redshift z $\sim$ 13, with the sensitivity limit of 100 mJy. By utilizing SKA's high spectral resolution settings (0.001, 0.002, 0.005, 0.01 Hz) to detect redshift drift, particularly focusing on the 0.001 and 0.002 Hz configuration, one aims to achieve the necessary mm/s in precision measurement by the 0.5-year observation period. The velocity drift rate, crucially determined by the two operational regimes within 0.01 to 0.21 mm/s and 0.031 to 0.17 mm/s, respectively, exceeds the theoretical accuracy limit of 1.28 mm/s. The analysis thoroughly restricts cosmological parameters related to dark energy using the Sandage-Loeb (SL) signal from the HI 21cm emission and absorption lines. It estimates $\rm H_0$ of about 70 km/s/Mpc, $\rm \Omega_m$ near 0.3, with w close to -1, $\rm w_0$ around -1, and $\rm w_a$ approaching -0.1. These results strongly endorse the SL effect as an effective method for confirming cosmic acceleration and exploring the dark sector in real-time cosmology with the SKA.