Deblurring Experimental Decay Energy Spectra

Abstract:

Analyzing the decay energy spectra of a system gives insight into the shell structure of the decaying system. However, the measured energy spectra are distorted due to detector resolution and efficiency effects, making the data unreliable for analysis. Using the Richardson-Lucy (RL) Algorithm, originally developed for image restoration, a deblurring method can be applied to restore the measured distribution. The RL algorithm takes two inputs: the detector's response matrix (Point Spread Function) and the measured distribution, both positively defined. In this work, we first apply the RL algorithm to restore one-dimensional simulated distributions and then to experimental spectra to validate our technique. Additionally, the algorithm is applied to restore two-dimensional distributions to extract two-dimensional information from experimental measurements. Our goal is to provide a framework to account for noises for a Rutherford scattering detector currently being developed by the MoNA Collaboration. This research is part of the 2023 Physicists Inspiring the Next Generation: Exploring Nuclear Matter.