First Results from COPSS: The CO Power Spectrum Survey

Understand

We present constraints on the abundance of carbon-monoxide in the early Universe from the CO Power Spectrum Survey (COPSS).

• We utilize a data set collected between 2005 and 2008 using the Sunyaev-Zel'dovich Array (SZA), which were previously used to measure arcminute-scale fluctuations of the CMB.
• This data set features observations of 44 fields, covering an effective area of 1.7 square degrees, over a frequency range of 27 to 35 GHz.
• Using the technique of intensity mapping, we are able to probe the CO(1-0) transition, with sensitivity to spatial modes between $k=0.5{-}2\ h\,\textrm{Mpc}^{-1}$ over a range in redshift of $z=2.3{-}3.3$, spanning a comoving volume of $3.6\times10^{6}\ h^{-3}\,\textrm{Mpc}^{3}$.