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Zeeman-Doppler imaging: old problems and new methods
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 November 2008
Abstract
Zeeman-Doppler Imaging (ZDI) is a powerful inversion method to reconstruct stellar magnetic surface fields. The reconstruction process is usually solved by translating the inverse problem into a regularized least-square or optimization problem. In this contribution we will emphasize that ZDI is an inherent non-linear problem and the corresponding regularized optimization is, like many non-linear problems, potentially prone to local minima. We show how this problem will be exacerbated by using an inadequate forward model. To facilitate a more consistent full radiative transfer driven approach to ZDI we describe a two-stage strategy that consist of a principal component analysis (PCA) based line profile reconstruction and a fast approximate polarized radiative transfer method to synthesize local Stokes profiles. Moreover, we introduce a novel statistical inversion method based on artificial neural networks (ANN) which provide a fast calculation of a first guess model and allows to incorporate better physical constraints into the inversion process.
- Type
- Contributed Papers
- Information
- Proceedings of the International Astronomical Union , Volume 4 , Symposium S259: Cosmic Magnetic Fields: From Planets, to Stars and Galaxies , November 2008 , pp. 633 - 644
- Copyright
- Copyright © International Astronomical Union 2009
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