On the estimation of intensity for low S/N ratio narrow emission lines

Details On the estimation of intensity for low S/N ratio narrow emission lines On the estimation of intensity for low S/N ratio narrow emission lines

Jul 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994a%26a...287..676r&link_type=abstract

Astronomy and Astrophysics (ISSN 0004-6361), vol. 287, no. 2, p. 676-684

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

37

Emission Spectra, Errors, Intensity, Line Spectra, Signal To Noise Ratios, Spectroscopy, Data Acquisition, Data Processing, Monte Carlo Method, Simulation, Statistical Analysis

Scientific paper

The aim of this paper is to investigate the errors involved by the intensity measure of low signal-to-noise ratio narrow emission lines. We also studied the errors associated with line intensity ratios. The spectral data acquisition was simulated by a Monte-Carlo program. These data were tested for the presence of a line and the lines detected were measured by a chi2 fitting program. This procedure generated a sample of intensities for a given signal-to-noise ratio. From these samples, we have established that the 'measured' intensities are strongly biased towards overestimated values and their distribution is well represented by a log-normal distribution. If this phenomenon is not taken into account, erroneous astrophysical conclusions may be derived. In addition, we determined that a line ratio follows also a log-normal distribution. Finally we provide some charts able to give the error bars attached to a line intensity measurement and also to a line ratio. These charts are given in terms of signal-to-noise ratio, and can be easily converted into line intensities if the energy of the noise is known.

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