Limited Angular Resolution Research Articles

Constraint on ion–neutral drift velocity in the Class 0 protostar B335 from ALMA observations

Aims. Ambipolar diffusion can cause a velocity drift between ions and neutrals. This is one of the non-ideal magnetohydrodynamics (MHD) effects proposed to enable the formation of large-scale Keplerian disks with sizes of tens of au. To observationally study ambipolar diffusion in collapsing protostellar envelopes, we compare here gas kinematics traced by ionized and neutral molecular lines and discuss the implication on ambipolar diffusion. Methods. We analyzed the data of the H13CO+ (3–2) and C18O (2–1) emission in the Class 0 protostar B335 obtained with our ALMA observations. We constructed kinematical models to fit the velocity structures observed in the H13CO+ and C18O emission and to measure the infalling velocities of the ionized and neutral gas on a 100 au scale in B335. Results. A central compact (~1′′–2′′) component that is elongated perpendicular to the outflow direction and exhibits a clear velocity gradient along the outflow direction is observed in both lines and most likely traces the infalling flattened envelope. With our kinematical models, the infalling velocities in the H13CO+ and C18O emission are both measured to be 0.85 ± 0.2 km s−1 at a radius of 100 au, suggesting that the velocity drift between the ionized and neutral gas is at most 0.3 km s−1 at a radius of 100 au in B335. Conclusions. The Hall parameter for H13CO+ is estimated to be ≫1 on a 100 au scale in B335, so that H13CO+ is expected to be attached to the magnetic field. Our non-detection or upper limit of the velocity drift between the ionized and neutral gas could suggest that the magnetic field remains rather well coupled to the bulk neutral material on a 100 au scale in this source, and that any significant field-matter decoupling, if present, likely occurs only on a smaller scale, leading to an accumulation of magnetic flux and thus efficient magnetic braking in the inner envelope. This result is consistent with the expectation from the MHD simulations with a typical ambipolar diffusivity and those without ambipolar diffusion. On the other hand, the high ambipolar drift velocity of 0.5–1.0 km s−1 on a 100 au scale predicted in the MHD simulations with an enhanced ambipolar diffusivity by removing small dust grains, where the minimum grain size is 0.1 μm, is not detected in our observations. However, because of our limited angular resolution, we cannot rule out a significant ambipolar drift only in the midplane of the infalling envelope. Future observations with higher angular resolutions (~0. ′′1) are needed to examine this possibility and ambipolar diffusion on a smaller scale.

A wide and collimated radio jet in 3C84 on the scale of a few hundred gravitational radii

Understanding the launching, acceleration, and collimation of jets powered by active galactic nuclei remains an outstanding problem in relativistic astrophysics. This is partly because observational tests of jet formation models suffer from the limited angular resolution of ground-based very long baseline interferometry that has thus far been able to probe the transverse jet structure in the acceleration and collimation zone of only two sources. Here we report radio interferometric observations of 3C 84 (NGC 1275), the central galaxy of the Perseus cluster, made with an array including the orbiting radio telescope of the RadioAstron mission. The obtained image transversely resolves the edge-brightened jet in 3C 84 only 30 microarcseconds from the core, which is ten times closer to the central engine than what has been possible in previous ground-based observations, and it allows us to measure the jet collimation profile from ~ 100 to ~10000 gravitational radii from the black hole. The previously found, almost cylindrical jet profile on scales larger than a few thousand r_g is now seen to continue at least down to a few hundred r_g from the black hole and we find a broad jet with a transverse radius larger than about 250 r_g at only 350 r_g from the core. If the bright outer jet layer is launched by the black hole ergosphere, it has to rapidly expand laterally on scales smaller than 100 r_g. If this is not the case, then this jet sheath is likely launched from the accretion disk.

Stage-Rocked Electron Channeling for Crystal Orientation Mapping

Microstructural analysis by crystal orientation mapping of bulk functional materials is an essential and routine operation in the engineering of material properties. Far and away the most successfully employed technique, Electron Backscattered Diffraction (EBSD), provides high spatial resolution information at the cost of limited angular resolution and a distorted imaging condition. In this work, we demonstrate a stage-rocked electron channeling approach as a low-cost orientation mapping alternative to EBSD. This is accomplished by automated electron channeling contrast imaging (ECCI) as the microscope stage physically tilts/rotates a sample through a reduced hemisphere of orientations followed by computational reconstruction of electron channeling patterns (ECP). Referred to as Orientation Mapping by Electron Channeling (OMEC), our method offers advantages in terms of local defect analysis, as it combines the advantages of selected area ECP (SACP) and ECCI. We also illustrate dynamic or “adaptive” sampling schemes to increase the throughput of the technique. Finally, we discuss the implications for sample analysis in which large 3D maps of ECCI images can be routinely constructed of challenging crystalline samples. As an electron channeling-based approach to orientation mapping, OMEC may open new routes to characterize crystalline materials with high angular and spatial resolution.

Angular Statistical Resolution Limit of Two Closely-Spaced Point Targets: A GLRT-Based Study

The study of statistical resolution limit (SRL) of two closely spaced targets has attracted considerable interests in the last decade. Two definitions for SRL have been proposed: one is based on the Cramer–Rao bound (CRB) and the other is based on a decision-based process. In this paper, we focus on the latter one. Different from the existing study, which assumes that the center parameter of interests (POIs) is known a priori , we use a more general model where all the POIs are unknown. We exploit the first-order Taylor expansion of the signals to get an approximate linear model with respect to the tested parameter, namely, the separation of directions of arrival of two sources. Then, we apply the general likelihood rate test to get a closed-form expression of SRL. We consider both the cases with known and unknown noise variance. Moreover, we analyze the impact of some parameters (including the resolution rate, the false-alarm rate, and the waveforms) on the SRL. For comparison, we also derive the CRB-based SRL, which is essentially different with our decision-based counterpart. Numerical simulation results demonstrate the validity of our theoretical results.

The impact of clustering and angular resolution on far-infrared and millimeter continuum observations

Follow-up observations at high-angular resolution of bright submillimeter galaxies selected from deep extragalactic surveys have shown that the single-dish sources are comprised of a blend of several galaxies. Consequently, number counts derived from low- and high-angular-resolution observations are in tension. This demonstrates the importance of resolution effects at these wavelengths and the need for realistic simulations to explore them. We built a new 2 deg2 simulation of the extragalactic sky from the far-infrared to the submillimeter. It is based on an updated version of the 2SFM (two star-formation modes) galaxy evolution model. Using global galaxy properties generated by this model, we used an abundance-matching technique to populate a dark-matter lightcone and thus simulate the clustering. We produced maps from this simulation and extracted the sources, and we show that the limited angular resolution of single-dish instruments has a strong impact on (sub)millimeter continuum observations. Taking into account these resolution effects, we are reproducing a large set of observables, as number counts and their evolution with redshift and cosmic infrared background power spectra. Our simulation consistently describes the number counts from single-dish telescopes and interferometers. In particular, at 350 and 500 μm, we find that the number counts measured by Herschel between 5 and 50 mJy are biased towards high values by a factor ~2, and that the redshift distributions are biased towards low redshifts. We also show that the clustering has an important impact on the Herschel pixel histogram used to derive number counts from P(D) analysis. We find that the brightest galaxy in the beam of a 500 μm Herschel source contributes on average to only ~60% of the Herschel flux density, but that this number will rise to ~95% for future millimeter surveys on 30 m-class telescopes (e.g., NIKA2 at IRAM). Finally, we show that the large number density of red Herschel sources found in observations but not in models might be an observational artifact caused by the combination of noise, resolution effects, and the steepness of color- and flux density distributions. Our simulation, called Simulated Infrared Dusty Extragalactic Sky (SIDES), is publicly available.

Detection of microgauss coherent magnetic fields in a galaxy five billion years ago

Magnetic fields play a pivotal role in the physics of interstellar medium in galaxies, but there are few observational constraints on how they evolve across cosmic time. Spatially resolved synchrotron polarization maps at radio wavelengths reveal well-ordered large-scale magnetic fields in nearby galaxies that are believed to grow from a seed field via a dynamo effect. To directly test and characterize this theory requires magnetic field strength and geometry measurements in cosmologically distant galaxies, which are challenging to obtain due to the limited sensitivity and angular resolution of current radio telescopes. Here, we report the cleanest measurements yet of magnetic fields in a galaxy beyond the local volume, free of the systematics traditional techniques would encounter. By exploiting the scenario where the polarized radio emission from a background source is gravitationally lensed by a foreground galaxy at z = 0.439 using broadband radio polarization data, we detected coherent $\mu$G magnetic fields in the lensing disk galaxy as seen 4.6 Gyrs ago, with similar strength and geometry to local volume galaxies. This is the highest redshift galaxy whose observed coherent magnetic field property is compatible with a mean-field dynamo origin.

3FGL J1924.8-1034: A spatially extended stable unidentified GeV source?

Milky Way-like galaxies are predicted to host a very large number of dark matter subhalos. Some massive and nearby subhalos could generate detectable gamma-rays, appearing as unidentified, spatially-extended and stable gamma-ray sources. We search for such sources in the third Fermi Large Area Telescope source List (3FGL) and report the identification of a new candidate, 3FGL J1924.8-1034. With the Fermi-LAT Pass 8 data, we find that 3FGL J1924.8-1034 is spatially-extended at a high confidence level of $5.4\sigma$, with a best-fit extension radius of $\sim0.15^{\circ}$. No significant variability has been found and its gamma-ray spectrum is well fitted by the dark matter annihilation into $b\bar{b}$ with a mass of $\sim 43$ GeV. All these facts make 3FGL J1924.8-1034 a possible dark matter subhalo candidate. However, due to the limited angular resolution, the possibility of that the spatial extension of 3FGL J1924.8-1034 is caused by the contamination from the other un-resolved point source can not be ruled out.

MIMO radar target localization and performance evaluation under SIRP clutter

Multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) radar has become a thriving subject of research during the past decades. In the MIMO radar context, it is sometimes more accurate to model the radar clutter as a non-Gaussian process, more specifically, by using the spherically invariant random process (SIRP) model. In this paper, we focus on the estimation and performance analysis of the angular spacing between two targets for the MIMO radar under the SIRP clutter. First, we propose an iterative maximum likelihood as well as an iterative maximum a posteriori estimator, for the target's spacing parameter estimation in the SIRP clutter context. Then we derive and compare various Cramér–Rao-like bounds (CRLBs) for performance assessment. Finally, we address the problem of target resolvability by using the concept of angular resolution limit (ARL), and derive an analytical, closed-form expression of the ARL based on Smith's criterion, between two closely spaced targets in a MIMO radar context under SIRP clutter. For this aim we also obtain the non-matrix, closed-form expressions for each of the CRLBs. Finally, we provide numerical simulations to assess the performance of the proposed algorithms, the validity of the derived ARL expression, and to reveal the ARL's insightful properties.

Measurement of 1.7–74 MeV polarised γ rays with the HARPO TPC

Current γ-ray telescopes based on photon conversions to electron-positron pairs, such as Fermi, use tungsten converters. They suffer of limited angular resolution at low energies, and their sensitivity drops below 1GeV. The low multiple scattering in a gaseous detector gives access to higher angular resolution in the MeV–GeV range, and to the linear polarisation of the photons through the azimuthal angle of the electron-positron pair.HARPO is an R&D programme to characterise the operation of a TPC (Time Projection Chamber) as a high angular-resolution and sensitivity telescope and polarimeter for γ rays from cosmic sources. It represents a first step towards a future space instrument. A 30cm cubic TPC demonstrator was built, and filled with 2bar argon-based gas. It was put in a polarised γ-ray beam at the NewSUBARU accelerator in Japan in November 2014. Data were taken at different photon energies from 1.7MeV to 74MeV, and with different polarisation configurations. The electronics setup is described, with an emphasis on the trigger system. The event reconstruction algorithm is quickly described, and preliminary measurements of the polarisation of 11MeV photons are shown.

Applying double-difference methods for fine-scale acoustic tracking of controlled sources and sperm whales using a small aperture vertical array

Ray propagation modeling can estimate a source’s depth and range in a waveguide by exploiting multipath arrival information on a vertical array. However, environmental mismatch of the model, array tilt, and limited angular resolution of an array can yield highly scattered dive trajectories when ray tracing individual events. “Double-difference” methods have been used to localize earthquakes (Waldhauser and Ellsworth, 2000) and fin whales (Wilcock, 2012) by determining the location of multiple events relative to each other, rather than their absolute position. These same concepts can be reformulated into a “triple-difference” approach to track successive acoustic events on a single multi-hydrophone array. This method examines relative changes in the multipath arrival times and elevation angles over the course of a dive in order to establish a more robust track in terms of relative positions along the trajectory. Presented here are results of applying this new technique on both a towed source and sperm whales, using acoustic data recorded on a short aperture vertical array off the coast of Southern California in 4 km deep water. [Work supported by Office of Naval Research—Marine Mammals and Biology and Ocean Acoustics Program.]

Origin of the Lyman excess in early-type stars

Ionized regions around early-type stars are believed to be well-known objects, but until recently, our knowledge of the relation between the free-free radio emission and the IR emission has been observationally hindered by the limited angular resolution in the far-IR. The advent of Herschel has now made it possible to obtain a more precise comparison between the two regimes, and it has been found that about a third of the young HII regions emit more Lyman continuum photons than expected, thus presenting a Lyman excess. With the present study we wish to distinguish between two scenarios that have been proposed to explain the existence of the Lyman excess: (i) underestimation of the bolometric luminosity, or (ii) additional emission of Lyman-continuum photons from an accretion shock. We observed an outflow (SiO) and an infall (HCO+) tracer toward a complete sample of 200 HII regions, 67 of which present the Lyman excess. Our goal was to search for any systematic difference between sources with Lyman excess and those without. While the outflow tracer does not reveal any significant difference between the two subsamples of HII regions, the infall tracer indicates that the Lyman-excess sources are more associated with infall signposts than the other objects. Our findings indicate that the most plausible explanation for the Lyman excess is that in addition to the Lyman continuum emission from the early-type star, UV photons are emitted from accretion shocks in the stellar neighbourhood. This result suggests that high-mass stars and/or stellar clusters containing young massive stars may continue to accrete for a long time, even after the development of a compact HII region.

D-BRAIN: Anatomically Accurate Simulated Diffusion MRI Brain Data.

Diffusion Weighted (DW) MRI allows for the non-invasive study of water diffusion inside living tissues. As such, it is useful for the investigation of human brain white matter (WM) connectivity in vivo through fiber tractography (FT) algorithms. Many DW-MRI tailored restoration techniques and FT algorithms have been developed. However, it is not clear how accurately these methods reproduce the WM bundle characteristics in real-world conditions, such as in the presence of noise, partial volume effect, and a limited spatial and angular resolution. The difficulty lies in the lack of a realistic brain phantom on the one hand, and a sufficiently accurate way of modeling the acquisition-related degradation on the other. This paper proposes a software phantom that approximates a human brain to a high degree of realism and that can incorporate complex brain-like structural features. We refer to it as a Diffusion BRAIN (D-BRAIN) phantom. Also, we propose an accurate model of a (DW) MRI acquisition protocol to allow for validation of methods in realistic conditions with data imperfections. The phantom model simulates anatomical and diffusion properties for multiple brain tissue components, and can serve as a ground-truth to evaluate FT algorithms, among others. The simulation of the acquisition process allows one to include noise, partial volume effects, and limited spatial and angular resolution in the images. In this way, the effect of image artifacts on, for instance, fiber tractography can be investigated with great detail. The proposed framework enables reliable and quantitative evaluation of DW-MR image processing and FT algorithms at the level of large-scale WM structures. The effect of noise levels and other data characteristics on cortico-cortical connectivity and tractography-based grey matter parcellation can be investigated as well.

A systematic study of evolved supernova remnants in the large and small Magellanic Clouds with Suzaku

Abstract Identifying the origin type (i.e., Type Ia or core-collapse) of supernova remnants (SNRs) is crucial to determining the rates of supernova (SN) explosions in a galaxy, which is a key to understanding its recent chemical evolution. However, evolved SNRs in the so-called Sedov phase are dominated by the swept-up interstellar medium (ISM), making it difficult to determine their ejecta composition and thus SN type. Here we present a systematic X-ray study of nine evolved SNRs in the Magellanic Clouds, DEM L238, DEM L249, 0534−69.9, 0548−70.4, B0532−71.0, B0532−67.5, 0103−72.6, 0049−73.6, and 0104−72.3, using archival data of the Suzaku satellite. Although Suzaku does not spatially resolve the SN ejecta from the swept-up ISM due to the limited angular resolution, its excellent energy resolution has enabled clear separation of emission lines in the soft X-ray band. This leads to the finding that the “spatially integrated” spectra of the evolved (∼104 yr) SNRs are still significantly contributed by emission from the ejecta at energies around 1 keV. The Fe/Ne mass ratios, determined mainly from the well-resolved Fe L-shell and Ne K-shell lines, clearly divide the observed SNRs into the Type Ia and core-collapse groups, confirming some previous typing made by Chandra observations that had utilized its extremely high angular resolution. This demonstrates that spatially integrated X-ray spectra of old SNRs can also be used to discriminate their progenitor type, which would be helpful for future systematic studies of extragalactic SNRs with ASTRO-H and beyond.

Sparse and Adaptive Diffusion Dictionary (SADD) for recovering intra-voxel white matter structure.

On the analysis of the Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance Images, multi-compartment models overcome the limitations of the well-known Diffusion Tensor model for fitting in vivo brain axonal orientations at voxels with fiber crossings, branching, kissing or bifurcations. Some successful multi-compartment methods are based on diffusion dictionaries. The diffusion dictionary-based methods assume that the observed Magnetic Resonance signal at each voxel is a linear combination of the fixed dictionary elements (dictionary atoms). The atoms are fixed along different orientations and diffusivity profiles. In this work, we present a sparse and adaptive diffusion dictionary method based on the Diffusion Basis Functions Model to estimate in vivo brain axonal fiber populations. Our proposal overcomes the following limitations of the diffusion dictionary-based methods: the limited angular resolution and the fixed shapes for the atom set. We propose to iteratively re-estimate the orientations and the diffusivity profile of the atoms independently at each voxel by using a simplified and easier-to-solve mathematical approach. As a result, we improve the fitting of the Diffusion-Weighted Magnetic Resonance signal. The advantages with respect to the former Diffusion Basis Functions method are demonstrated on the synthetic data-set used on the 2012 HARDI Reconstruction Challenge and in vivo human data. We demonstrate that improvements obtained in the intra-voxel fiber structure estimations benefit brain research allowing to obtain better tractography estimations. Hence, these improvements result in an accurate computation of the brain connectivity patterns.

Bayesian Angular Superresolution Algorithm for Real-Aperture Imaging in Forward-Looking Radar

In real aperture imaging, the limited azimuth angular resolution seriously restricts the applications of this imaging system. This report presents a maximum a posteriori (MAP) approach based on the Bayesian framework for high angular resolution of real aperture radar. First, Rayleigh statistic and the lq norm (for 0 < q ≤ 1) sparse constraint are considered to express the clutter property and target scattering coefficient distribution, respectively. Then, the MAP objective function is established according to the hypotheses above. At last, a recursive iterative strategy is developed to estimate the original target scattering coefficient distribution and clutter statistic. The comparison of simulations and experimental results are given to verify the performance of our proposed algorithm.

Sparse deconvolution of higher order tensor for fiber orientation distribution estimation

Higher order tensor (HOT) imaging approaches based on the spherical deconvolution framework have attracted much interest for their effectiveness in estimating fiber orientation distribution (FOD). However, sparse regularization techniques are still needed to obtain stable FOD in solving the deconvolution problem, particularly in very high orders. Our goal is to adequately characterize the actual sparsity lying in the FOD domain to develop accurate estimation approach for fiber orientation in HOT framework. We propose a sparse HOT regularization model by enforcing the sparse constraint directly on the representation of FOD instead of imposing it on coefficients of basis function. Then, we incorporate both the stabilizing effect of the l2 penalty and the sparsity encouraging effect of the l1 penalty in the sparse model to adequately characterize the actual sparsity lying in the FOD domain. Furthermore, a weighted regularization scheme is developed to iteratively solve the deconvolution problem. The deconvolution technique is compared against existing methods using l2 or l1 regularizer and tested on synthetic data and real human brain. Experiments were conducted on synthetic data and real human brain data. The synthetic experimental results indicate that crossing fibers are more easily detected and the angular resolution limit is improved by our method by approximately 20°-30° compared to existing HOT method. The detection accuracy is considerably improved compared with that of spherical deconvolution approaches using the l2 regularizer and the reweighted l1 scheme. Results of testing the deconvolution technique demonstrate that it allows HOTs to obtain increasingly clean and sharp FOD, which in turn significantly increases the angular resolution of current HOT methods. With sparsity on FOD domain, this method efficiently improves the ability of HOT in resolving crossing fibers.

Spatially resolved observations of a coronal type II radio burst with multiple lanes

Relative dynamics of the radio sources of the metric type II burst with three emission lanes and coronal mass ejection (CME) occurred in the lower corona (r≲1.5R⊙) during the SOL2011-02-16T14:19 event is studied. The observational data of the Nancay Radioheliograph (NRH) and the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (AIA) onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) are used. These observations are also supplemented by the data sets obtained with the STEREO-A and -B, RHESSI, and GOES spacecraft, as well as with the ground-based solar radio spectrometers. It is found that the sources of the radio burst were located ahead of the expanding CME and had a complex spatial structure. The first and the second lanes were both emitted from the “magnetic funnel” — a bundle of open magnetic field lines separated the south and north systems of magnetic loops of the active region. Due to the projection effect and limited angular resolution of the NRH it is not possible to determine, whether the spatial locations of the radio sources of the two first emission lanes differed or not. It is argued that the observations support the hypothesis that the radio sources of the first and second lanes could be emitted respectively ahead of and behind a front of the same weak (the Alfvén Mach number MA≈1.1–1.2), fast mode, quasi-parallel piston MHD shock wave. However, the third lane of the burst was definitely emitted from a different place. Its radio sources were situated ahead of the north-west part of the CME propagated through the north system of magnetic loops. This indicates clearly that different emission lanes of the same type II burst can be a result of propagation of different parts of a single CME through regions with different physical conditions (geometries and plasma densities) in the lower corona.

Design study of a cardiac-dedicated PET system

The work studies the feasibility of developing a cardiac-dedicated PET system using Monte Carlo simulation tools. The proposed system comprises a dual-panel geometry and both panels utilize fine crystal elements (~2–3mm) to help improve high spatial resolution. The system performances were studied with respect to photon detection sensitivity, count-rate performances, spatial resolution, depth-of-interaction (DOI) capability, and potential contrast recovery improvement due to time-of-flight (TOF). For a 2:3 dual panel configuration (front panel: 24.0×18.0cm2 and back panel: 36.0×27.0cm2), the system is able to achieve a peak photon sensitivity of ~13.0% at the location of the heart. For count-rate performances, the system is able to yield a continuous increase of noise equivalent count rate (NECR) as a function of the total activity of radiotracers between 10mCi and 50mCi. When crystal elements of 2×2×20cm3 are deployed in the front panel and crystal elements of 3×3×20cm3 are deployed in the back panel, the proposed system is not only able to revolve 2mm diameter spheres in the image slices parallel to the panels but also demonstrates good resolution uniformity of less than 5%. On the other hand, significant resolution degradation occurs in the direction perpendicular to the panels due to the following two factors: limited angular coverage and finite DOI resolution. Such degradation was quantitatively analyzed for five different DOI resolutions (0mm, 2.5mm, 5mm, 10mm and 20mm), as well as three different crystal configurations. Finally, the contrast study with a heart-like phantom (comprising lumen, aortic wall, myocardium and small lesions) indicates that TOF capability (time resolution: 250–500ps) does not significantly improve image quality and lesion detectability, in terms of contrast-to-noise ratio (CNR).

Statistical Angular Resolution Limit for Ultrawideband MIMO Noise Radar

The two-dimensional angular resolution limit (ARL) of elevation and azimuth for MIMO radar with ultrawideband (UWB) noise waveforms is investigated using statistical resolution theory. First, the signal model of monostatic UWB MIMO noise radar is established in a 3D reference frame. Then, the statistical angular resolution limits (SARLs) of two closely spaced targets are derived using the detection-theoretic and estimation-theoretic approaches, respectively. The detection-theoretic approach is based on the generalized likelihood ratio test (GLRT) with given probabilities of false alarm and detection, while the estimation-theoretic approach is based on Smith’s criterion which involves the Cramér-Rao lower bound (CRLB). Furthermore, the relationship between the two approaches is presented, and the factors affecting the SARL, that is, detection parameters, transmit waveforms, array geometry, signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), and parameters of target (i.e., radar cross section (RCS) and direction), are analyzed. Compared with the conventional radar resolution theory defined by the ambiguity function, the SARL reflects the practical resolution ability of radar and can provide an optimization criterion for radar system design.

Improving visual quality of view transitions in automultiscopic displays

Automultiscopic screens present different images depending on the viewing direction. This enables glasses-free 3D and provides motion parallax effect. However, due to the limited angular resolution of such displays, they suffer from hot-spotting, i. e., image quality is highly affected by the viewing position. In this paper, we analyze light fields produced by lenticular and parallax-barrier displays, and show that, unlike in real world, the light fields produced by such screens have a repetitive structure. This induces visual artifacts in the form of view discontinuities, depth reversals, and excessive disparities when viewing position is not optimal. Although the problem has been always considered as inherent to the technology, we demonstrate that light fields reproduced on automultiscopic displays have enough degrees of freedom to improve the visual quality. We propose a new technique that modifies light fields using global and local shears followed by stitching to improve their continuity when displayed on a screen. We show that this enhances visual quality significantly, which is demonstrated in a series of user experiments with an automultiscopic display as well as lenticular prints.