17,953 research outputs found
Three photometric methods tested on ground-based data of Q 2237+0305
The Einstein Cross, Q~2237+0305, has been photometrically observed in four
bands on two successive nights at NOT (La Palma, Spain) in October 1995. Three
independent algorithms have been used to analyse the data: an automatic image
decomposition technique, a CLEAN algorithm and the new MCS deconvolution code.
The photometric and astrometric results obtained with the three methods are
presented. No photometric variations were found in the four quasar images.
Comparison of the photometry from the three techniques shows that both
systematic and random errors affect each method. When the seeing is worse than
1.0", the errors from the automatic image decomposition technique and the Clean
algorithm tend to be large (0.04-0.1 magnitudes) while the deconvolution code
still gives accurate results (1{sigma} error below 0.04) even for frames with
seeing as bad as 1.7". Reddening is observed in the quasar images and is found
to be compatible with either extinction from the lensing galaxy or colour
dependent microlensing. The photometric accuracy depends on the light
distribution used to model the lensing galaxy. In particular, using a numerical
galaxy model, as done with the MCS algorithm, makes the method less seeing
dependent. Another advantage of using a numerical model is that eventual
non-homogeneous structures in the galaxy can be modeled. Finally, we propose an
observational strategy for a future photometric monitoring of the Einstein
Cross.Comment: 9 pages, accepted for publication in A&
Deconvolution with Shapelets
We seek to find a shapelet-based scheme for deconvolving galaxy images from
the PSF which leads to unbiased shear measurements. Based on the analytic
formulation of convolution in shapelet space, we construct a procedure to
recover the unconvolved shapelet coefficients under the assumption that the PSF
is perfectly known. Using specific simulations, we test this approach and
compare it to other published approaches. We show that convolution in shapelet
space leads to a shapelet model of order
with and being the maximum orders of the intrinsic
galaxy and the PSF models, respectively. Deconvolution is hence a
transformation which maps a certain number of convolved coefficients onto a
generally smaller number of deconvolved coefficients. By inferring the latter
number from data, we construct the maximum-likelihood solution for this
transformation and obtain unbiased shear estimates with a remarkable amount of
noise reduction compared to established approaches. This finding is
particularly valid for complicated PSF models and low images, which
renders our approach suitable for typical weak-lensing conditions.Comment: 9 pages, 9 figures, submitted to A&
Microlensing of the broad line region in 17 lensed quasars
When an image of a strongly lensed quasar is microlensed, the different
components of its spectrum are expected to be differentially magnified owing to
the different sizes of the corresponding emitting region. Chromatic changes are
expected to be observed in the continuum while the emission lines should be
deformed as a function of the size, geometry and kinematics of the regions from
which they originate. Microlensing of the emission lines has been reported only
in a handful of systems so far. In this paper we search for microlensing
deformations of the optical spectra of pairs of images in 17 lensed quasars.
This sample is composed of 13 pairs of previously unpublished spectra and four
pairs of spectra from literature. Our analysis is based on a spectral
decomposition technique which allows us to isolate the microlensed fraction of
the flux independently of a detailed modeling of the quasar emission lines.
Using this technique, we detect microlensing of the continuum in 85% of the
systems. Among them, 80% show microlensing of the broad emission lines.
Focusing on the most common lines in our spectra (CIII] and MgII) we detect
microlensing of either the blue or the red wing, or of both wings with the same
amplitude. This observation implies that the broad line region is not in
general spherically symmetric. In addition, the frequent detection of
microlensing of the blue and red wings independently but not simultaneously
with a different amplitude, does not support existing microlensing simulations
of a biconical outflow. Our analysis also provides the intrinsic flux ratio
between the lensed images and the magnitude of the microlensing affecting the
continuum. These two quantities are particularly relevant for the determination
of the fraction of matter in clumpy form in galaxies and for the detection of
dark matter substructures via the identification of flux ratio anomalies.Comment: Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics. Main data set
available via the German virtual observatory
http://dc.g-vo.org/mlqso/q/web/form and soon via CDS. Additional material
available on reques
Single-Channel Signal Separation and Deconvolution with Generative Adversarial Networks
Single-channel signal separation and deconvolution aims to separate and
deconvolve individual sources from a single-channel mixture and is a
challenging problem in which no prior knowledge of the mixing filters is
available. Both individual sources and mixing filters need to be estimated. In
addition, a mixture may contain non-stationary noise which is unseen in the
training set. We propose a synthesizing-decomposition (S-D) approach to solve
the single-channel separation and deconvolution problem. In synthesizing, a
generative model for sources is built using a generative adversarial network
(GAN). In decomposition, both mixing filters and sources are optimized to
minimize the reconstruction error of the mixture. The proposed S-D approach
achieves a peak-to-noise-ratio (PSNR) of 18.9 dB and 15.4 dB in image
inpainting and completion, outperforming a baseline convolutional neural
network PSNR of 15.3 dB and 12.2 dB, respectively and achieves a PSNR of 13.2
dB in source separation together with deconvolution, outperforming a
convolutive non-negative matrix factorization (NMF) baseline of 10.1 dB.Comment: 7 pages. Accepted by IJCAI 201
Extended object reconstruction in adaptive-optics imaging: the multiresolution approach
We propose the application of multiresolution transforms, such as wavelets
(WT) and curvelets (CT), to the reconstruction of images of extended objects
that have been acquired with adaptive optics (AO) systems. Such multichannel
approaches normally make use of probabilistic tools in order to distinguish
significant structures from noise and reconstruction residuals. Furthermore, we
aim to check the historical assumption that image-reconstruction algorithms
using static PSFs are not suitable for AO imaging. We convolve an image of
Saturn taken with the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) with AO PSFs from the 5-m
Hale telescope at the Palomar Observatory and add both shot and readout noise.
Subsequently, we apply different approaches to the blurred and noisy data in
order to recover the original object. The approaches include multi-frame blind
deconvolution (with the algorithm IDAC), myopic deconvolution with
regularization (with MISTRAL) and wavelets- or curvelets-based static PSF
deconvolution (AWMLE and ACMLE algorithms). We used the mean squared error
(MSE) and the structural similarity index (SSIM) to compare the results. We
discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the two metrics. We found that CT
produces better results than WT, as measured in terms of MSE and SSIM.
Multichannel deconvolution with a static PSF produces results which are
generally better than the results obtained with the myopic/blind approaches
(for the images we tested) thus showing that the ability of a method to
suppress the noise and to track the underlying iterative process is just as
critical as the capability of the myopic/blind approaches to update the PSF.Comment: In revision in Astronomy & Astrophysics. 19 pages, 13 figure
Multi-frequency image reconstruction for radio-interferometry with self-tuned regularization parameters
As the world's largest radio telescope, the Square Kilometer Array (SKA) will
provide radio interferometric data with unprecedented detail. Image
reconstruction algorithms for radio interferometry are challenged to scale well
with TeraByte image sizes never seen before. In this work, we investigate one
such 3D image reconstruction algorithm known as MUFFIN (MUlti-Frequency image
reconstruction For radio INterferometry). In particular, we focus on the
challenging task of automatically finding the optimal regularization parameter
values. In practice, finding the regularization parameters using classical grid
search is computationally intensive and nontrivial due to the lack of ground-
truth. We adopt a greedy strategy where, at each iteration, the optimal
parameters are found by minimizing the predicted Stein unbiased risk estimate
(PSURE). The proposed self-tuned version of MUFFIN involves parallel and
computationally efficient steps, and scales well with large- scale data.
Finally, numerical results on a 3D image are presented to showcase the
performance of the proposed approach
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