Scientific Results from Deconvolved Images

William C. Keel

I review various regimes in which deconvolution is and is not the technique of choice for analysis of HST images. The difficulty of getting adequately deconvolved images depends largely on required angular field, attainable signal-to-noise, and the dynamic range of the target; this last factor limits many interesting investigations in the presence of spherical aberration, exacerbating noise amplification and uncertain knowledge of the point-spread function. Photometric validation issues are also important; real data are used to show how well completely different approaches agree on the intensity profiles of faint galaxies.

Some examples of scientific results in the realm of galaxy structure and evolution are given, which have required deconvolved data. Some highlight are disk structures near galactic nuclei, fine structure in synchrotron jets, morphological evolution of medium- and high-redshift galaxies, and significant galaxy merging at moderate redshifts. An additional set of results has been greatly aided by deconvolution, including study of concentrated cores in galaxies and structural parameters of faint galaxies.

Pages 359-368

Full paper available in HTML and compressed PostScript