Probing the Global 21-cm Signal via the Integrated Sachs-Wolfe Effect on the 21-cm Background

Abstract

We propose a novel method to probe the global 21-cm background. This background experiences the integrated Sachs-Wolfe effect (ISW) as the cosmic microwave background does. The 21-cm ISW is modulated by the spectral shape of the global 21-cm signal, and thus the measure of the 21-cm ISW will be a probe of the evolution of the global signal. This strategy naturally mitigates the impact of the Milky Way foreground, which is a common and most significant challenge in conventional 21-cm background probes. With the phase-1 SKA telescope, probing the global 21-cm background would be feasible with a few 1000 hours of observation, enabling consistency checks with existing measures of the global 21-cm signal by EDGES and SARAS that are conflicting with each other.