Reliability tests for Doppler imaging

Abstract

In recent years, Doppler imaging codes have been developed by a number of different groups and successfully applied to map the spot distribution on stellar surfaces. As more and more images are obtained we tend to see a pattern of high-latitude spots, particularly on RS CVn systems. These high-latitude spots were and still are greeted with scepticism as they are inferred from non-varying profile deformations. Here, I describe some of the problems of Doppler imaging and their likely impact on the resulting images.