Synchrotron and free-free mapping with simulated REACH observations between 50-170 MHz
Global 21cm experiments aim to detect the hydrogen 21cm signal by separating it from foreground emission that can be orders of magnitude brighter than the signal. REACH (the Radio Experiment for the Analysis of Cosmic Hydrogen) forward-models the sky by jointly fitting signal and foreground spectral parameters to an existing sky map. The fitted parameters yield spectrally constrained, absolutely calibrated maps of the radio sky across the full 50-170 MHz observing band, among the lowest continuous frequencies yet mapped. We assess REACH's ability to fit the 21cm signal and recover accurate foreground maps, using physically motivated foreground models of increasing complexity (starting from a pure synchrotron power law model, then introducing variable amplitudes, curvature, and a free-free component). We evaluate these models against simulated REACH observations of correspondingly complex foregrounds, based on the Global Sky Model and the Python Sky Model. To recover the 21cm signal, more complex datasets require correspondingly complex models, but this introduces degeneracies which limit accurate recovery of foreground parameters. Fitting a foreground with independent synchrotron and free-free emission enables component-separated sky mapping, which has applications beyond radio cosmology; synchrotron is well-recovered across the sky, but free-free recovery is limited. REACH is therefore capable of probing Galactic physics at uniquely low frequencies, alongside its primary goal of detecting the 21cm signal.