Related papers: Point Process Algorithm: A New Bayesian Approach f…
A new fast Bayesian approach is introduced for the detection of discrete objects immersed in a diffuse background. This new method, called PowellSnakes, speeds up traditional Bayesian techniques by: i) replacing the standard form of the…
The two most successful methods for exoplanet detection rely on the detection of planetary signals in photometric and radial velocity time-series. This depends on numerical techniques that exploit the synergy between data and theory to…
An Earth-like extra-solar planet emits light which is many orders of magnitude fainter than that of the parent star. We propose a method of identifying bio-signature spectral lines in light from known extra-solar planets based on Fourier…
There are many pertinent open issues in the area of star and planet formation. Large statistical samples of young stars across star-forming regions are needed to trigger a breakthrough in our understanding, but most optical studies are…
A "pulsar timing array" (PTA), in which observations of a large sample of pulsars spread across the celestial sphere are combined, allows investigation of "global" phenomena such as a background of gravitational waves or instabilities in…
Narrowband radio search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI) in the 21st century suffers severely from radio frequency interference (RFI), resulting in a high number of false positives, and it could be the major reason why we have not…
To increase the sample size of future atmospheric characterization efforts, we build on the planetary infrared excess (PIE) technique that has been proposed as a means to detect and characterize the thermal spectra of transiting and…
The radial velocity method is one of the most successful techniques for detecting exoplanets. It works by detecting the velocity of a host star induced by the gravitational effect of an orbiting planet, specifically the velocity along our…
Doppler spectroscopy is a powerful tool for discovering and characterizing exoplanets. For decades, the standard approach to extracting radial velocities (RVs) has been to cross-correlate observed spectra with a weighted template mask.…
We develop a statistical analysis model of Kepler star flux data in the presence of planet transits, non-Gaussian noise, and star variability. We first develop a model for Kepler noise probability distribution in the presence of outliers,…
In this paper, we explore the determination of a spectral emissivity profile that closely matches real data, intended for use as an initial guess and/or a-priori information in a retrieval code. Our approach employs a Bayesian method that…
Planet-planet occultations (PPOs) occur when one exoplanet occults another exoplanet in the same system as seen from the Earth's vantage point. PPOs may provide a unique opportunity to observe radio "spillover" from extraterrestrial…
Atmospheric retrievals are now a standard tool to analyze observations of exoplanet atmospheres. This data-driven approach quantitatively compares atmospheric models to observations in order to estimate atmospheric properties and their…
Ideal spatial demultiplexing (SPADE) is proven to be a quantum-optimal tool for exoplanet detection, i.e., asymmetric source discrimination. However, recent investigations into the related problems of separation estimation and symmetric…
We present an algorithm using Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to subtract galaxies from imaging data, and also two algorithms to find strong, galaxy-scale gravitational lenses in the resulting residual image. The combined method is…
Inference is crucial in modern astronomical research, where hidden astrophysical features and patterns are often estimated from indirect and noisy measurements. Inferring the posterior of hidden features, conditioned on the observed…
SIM PlanetQuest (Space Interferometry Mission) is a space-borne Michelson interferometer for precision stellar astrometry, with a nine meter baseline, currently slated for launch in 2015. One of the principal science goals is the…
Polarimetric imaging is one of the most effective techniques for high-contrast imaging and characterization of circumstellar environments. These environments can be characterized through direct-imaging polarimetry at near-infrared…
The aims of the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project are to 1) make a direct detection of gravitational waves, 2) improve the solar system planetary ephemeris and 3) develop a pulsar-based time scale. In this article we describe the…
The process of dynamic state estimation (filtering) based on point process observations is in general intractable. Numerical sampling techniques are often practically useful, but lead to limited conceptual insight about optimal…