Super-resolution MRI Using Finite Rate of Innovation Curves

We propose a two-stage algorithm for the super-resolution of MR images from their low-frequency k-space samples. In the first stage we estimate a resolution-independent mask whose zeros represent the edges of the image. This builds off recent work extending the theory of sampling signals of finite rate of innovation (FRI) to two-dimensional curves. We enable its application to MRI by proposing extensions of the signal models allowed by FRI theory, and by developing a more robust and efficient means to determine the edge mask. In the second stage of the scheme, we recover the super-resolved MR image using the discretized edge mask as an image prior. We evaluate our scheme on simulated single-coil MR data obtained from analytical phantoms, and compare against total variation reconstructions. Our experiments show improved performance in both noiseless and noisy settings.Comment: Conference paper accepted to ISBI 2015. 4 pages, 2 figure

SUPER-RESOLUTION MRI USING FINITE RATE OF INNOVATION CURVES

ABSTRACT We propose a two-stage algorithm for the super-resolution of MR images from their low-frequency k-space samples. In the first stage we estimate a resolution-independent mask whose zeros represent the edges of the image. This builds off recent work extending the theory of sampling signals of finite rate of innovation (FRI) to two-dimensional curves. We enable its application to MRI by proposing extensions of the signal models allowed by FRI theory, and by developing a more robust and efficient means to determine the edge mask. In the second stage of the scheme, we recover the super-resolved MR image using the discretized edge mask as an image prior. We evaluate our scheme on simulated single-coil MR data obtained from analytical phantoms, and compare against total variation reconstructions. Our experiments show improved performance in both noiseless and noisy settings

Magnetic effects on the low-T/|W| instability in differentially rotating neutron stars

Dynamical instabilities in protoneutron stars may produce gravitational waves whose observation could shed light on the physics of core-collapse supernovae. When born with sufficient differential rotation, these stars are susceptible to a shear instability (the "low-T/|W| instability"), but such rotation can also amplify magnetic fields to strengths where they have a considerable impact on the dynamics of the stellar matter. Using a new magnetohydrodynamics module for the Spectral Einstein Code, we have simulated a differentially-rotating neutron star in full 3D to study the effects of magnetic fields on this instability. Though strong toroidal fields were predicted to suppress the low-T/|W| instability, we find that they do so only in a small range of field strengths. Below 4e13 G, poloidal seed fields do not wind up fast enough to have an effect before the instability saturates, while above 5e14 G, magnetic instabilities can actually amplify a global quadrupole mode (this threshold may be even lower in reality, as small-scale magnetic instabilities remain difficult to resolve numerically). Thus, the prospects for observing gravitational waves from such systems are not in fact diminished over most of the magnetic parameter space. Additionally, we report that the detailed development of the low-T/|W| instability, including its growth rate, depends strongly on the particular numerical methods used. The high-order methods we employ suggest that growth might be considerably slower than found in some previous simulations.Comment: REVTeX 4.1, 21 pages, 18 figures, submitting to Physical Review