A New Standard for Assessing the Performance of High Contrast Imaging Systems
Abstract
As planning for the next generation of high contrast imaging instruments (e.g., WFIRST, HabEx, and LUVOIR, TMT-PFI, EELT-EPICS) matures and second-generation ground-based extreme adaptive optics facilities (e.g., VLT-SPHERE, Gemini-GPI) finish their principal surveys, it is imperative that the performance of different designs, post-processing algorithms, observing strategies, and survey results be compared in a consistent, statistically robust framework. In this paper, we argue that the current industry standard for such comparisons—the contrast curve—falls short of this mandate. We propose a new figure of merit, the “performance map,” that incorporates three fundamental concepts in signal detection theory: the true positive fraction, the false positive fraction, and the detection threshold. By supplying a theoretical basis and recipe for generating the performance map, we hope to encourage the widespread adoption of this new metric across subfields in exoplanet imaging.
- Publication:
-
The Astronomical Journal
- Pub Date:
- January 2018
- DOI:
- 10.3847/1538-3881/aa97e4
- arXiv:
- arXiv:1711.01215
- Bibcode:
- 2018AJ....155...19J
- Keywords:
-
- methods: statistical;
- techniques: high angular resolution;
- Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics
- E-Print:
- 11 pages, 8 figures, accepted to AJ