First Light of the Tomographic Ionized Mapping Experiment

Intensity mapping measures fluctuations in the aggregate spectral line emission of all galaxies along a line of sight, including sources at the faint end of the luminosity function. The Tomographic Ionized-carbon Mapping Experiment (TIME) aims to use this technique to trace the far-IR emission from singly ionized carbon (CII) at 6 ≤ z ≤ 9, which would constrain the star formation rate density (SFRD) at the Epoch of Reionization (EOR). TIME will also be able to observe the rotational lines of CO at 0.5 ≤ z ≤ 2, allowing us to infer the abundance of molecular gas. Further TIME will be able to make measurements of the line of sight peculiar velocities of galaxy clusters, via the kinetic Sunyaev-Zeldovich effect (kSZ), on the order of ±400 km/s. This is in part due to low and high frequency channels at the edge of TIME’s 183-325 GHz bandpass which are sensitive to atmospheric fluctuations. The instrument comprises two grating spectrometers with a focal plane of 16 feedhorns optically coupled to an array of 1900 detectors. TIME has just finished a commissioning run at Kitt Peak using the 12M Telescope of the Arizona Radio Observatory. We observed a variety of astrophysical objects both compact and extended. TIME is slated for 12 months total observing time at this facility with more runs in the winters of 2023, 2024 and 2025. This talk will focus on the results of this deployment and improvements to be made for future deployments.