Seminar: Source detection in next-generation wide-field interferometers: challenges and lessons from classical detection theory

Dr. Cath Trott 

Harvard & ICRAR/Curtin

Signal detection is a mature branch of statistical mathematics, underpinning many aspects of modern communication and signal processing. It has applications for signal detection in physics, including medical imaging and astronomy. I will briefly review current methods for image-based source detection in radio as- tronomy, and discuss limitations of these methods for addressing the detection challenges of next-generation wide-field interferometers. I will then present an introduction to classical signal detection and estimation theory, demonstrate how to design a theoretically optimal detector, and describe how an understanding of the ideal (optimal) performance can inform decisions about realistic estimators and detectors. Finally, I will discuss application of these techniques to visibility-space and image-space datasets, with particular reference to detection of slow radio transients.