Matched filters for source detection in the Poissonian noise regime
1
Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Leicester, University Road, Leicester LE1 7RH, UK
2
Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester, Macclesfield SK11 9DL, UK e-mail: ims@jb.man.ac.uk
Received:
23
May
2005
Accepted:
9
February
2006
A procedure is described for estimating an optimum kernel for the detection by convolution of signals among Poissonian noise. The technique is applied to the detection of X-ray point sources in XMM-Newton data, and is shown to yield an improvement in detection sensitivity of up to 60% over the sliding-box method used in the creation of the 1XMM catalog.
Key words: methods: data analysis / techniques: image processing / X-rays: general
© ESO, 2006