Results of experiment in Sect. 5.3 (for the Beta Pictoris L′ data set). The table plots show the ratio of the observed flux from the signal estimate and the injected flux as a function of contrast and separation, averaged over six azimuthal positions. Values close to 1 indicate that the signal estimate provides a good estimate for the planet’s brightness. Overlaid in orange is the respective 5σ contrast curve for each method, including a marker that indicates the respective worst-case (i.e., the contrast curve that we obtain if we aggregate the data azimuthally by using the position with the highest FPF). For PCA, the contrast curve begins at 3 FWHM because, for 2 FWHM, none of the injected planets ever crosses the 5σ threshold for the FPF. □