Viterbi Decoding of CRES Signals in Project 8

TL;DR

This paper applies the Viterbi algorithm to Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) signals, establishing theoretical detection limits and validating them with simulations and real data to improve charged particle energy measurements.

Contribution

It introduces a novel Viterbi-based method for optimal detection in gas-filled CRES experiments, providing concrete informational limits for future detector development.

Findings

Viterbi algorithm effectively detects CRES signals.

Theoretical detection limits are established for gas-filled CRES.

Validation confirms the method's accuracy with Monte Carlo and Project 8 data.

Abstract

Cyclotron Radiation Emission Spectroscopy (CRES) is a modern approach for determining charged particle energies via high-precision frequency measurements of the emitted cyclotron radiation. For CRES experiments with gas within the fiducial volume, signal and noise dynamics can be modelled by a hidden Markov model. We introduce a novel application of the Viterbi algorithm in order to derive informational limits on the optimal detection of cyclotron radiation signals in this class of gas-filled CRES experiments, thereby providing concrete limits from which future reconstruction algorithms, as well as detector designs, can be constrained. The validity of the resultant decision rules is confirmed using both Monte Carlo and Project 8 data.