Detecting small low emission radiating sources

TL;DR

This paper develops a robust detection method for small, low emission sources against strong backgrounds using Compton cameras, with high sensitivity and confidence estimation demonstrated in 2D simulations.

Contribution

It introduces a novel detection technique for small low emission sources utilizing Compton cameras, emphasizing high sensitivity and confidence assessment.

Findings

High sensitivity detection demonstrated in numerical examples

Ability to assign confidence probabilities to detections

Effective detection in 2D scenarios

Abstract

The article addresses the possibility of robust detection of geometrically small, low emission sources on a significantly stronger background. This problem is important for homeland security. A technique of detecting such sources using Compton type cameras is developed, which is shown on numerical examples to have high sensitivity and specificity and also allows to assign confidence probabilities of the detection. 2D case is considered in detail.