Bibcode
Asensio-Ramos, A.; Manso-Sainz, R.
Bibliographical reference
Astronomy and Astrophysics, Volume 547, id.A113, 8 pp.
Advertised on:
11
2012
Journal
Citations
5
Refereed citations
4
Description
The analysis of high spectral resolution spectroscopic and
spectropolarimetric observations constitutes a very powerful way of
inferring the dynamical, thermodynamical, and magnetic properties of
distant objects. However, these techniques starve photons, making it
difficult to use them for all purposes. A common problem is not being
able to detect a signal because it is buried on the noise at the
wavelength of some interesting spectral feature. This problem is
especially relevant for spectropolarimetric observations, because only a
small fraction of the received light is typically polarized. We present
in this paper a Bayesian technique for detecting spectropolarimetric
signals. The technique is based on applying the nonparametric relevance
vector machine to the observations, which allows us to compute the
evidence for the presence of the signal and compute the more probable
signal. The method is suited for analyzing data from experimental
instruments onboard space missions and rockets aiming at detecting
spectropolarimetric signals in unexplored regions of the spectrum, such
as the Chromospheric Lyman-Alpha Spectro-Polarimeter (CLASP) sounding
rocket experiment.
Related projects
Magnetism, Polarization and Radiative Transfer in Astrophysics
Magnetic fields pervade all astrophysical plasmas and govern most of the variability in the Universe at intermediate time scales. They are present in stars across the whole Hertzsprung-Russell diagram, in galaxies, and even perhaps in the intergalactic medium. Polarized light provides the most reliable source of information at our disposal for the
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