Program WWZ: Wavelet Analysis of Astronomical Signals With Irregularly Spaced Arguments

TL;DR

The paper introduces WWZ, a wavelet analysis program tailored for irregularly spaced astronomical data, improving signal detection and noise reduction for variable star signals and other applications.

Contribution

It presents an improved wavelet algorithm for irregular data, enhancing signal-to-noise ratio over traditional methods.

Findings

Successfully applied to pulsating variable stars

Significantly increased signal-to-noise ratio

Applicable to various signal types

Abstract

A program WWZ is introduced, which realizes the wavelet analysis using an improved modification of the algorithm of the Morlet wavelet for a general case of irregularly spaced data, which is typical for the databases available in virtual observatories. Contrary to the well-known analogs, working with regularly spaced (equidistant in time) arguments, we have implemented an improved algorithm presented by Andronov, (1998KFNT...14..490A, 1999sss..conf...57A), which significantly increases the signal-to-noise ratio. The program has been used to study semi-regular pulsating variable stars (U Del et al.), but can be used for the analysis of signals of any nature.