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arXiv · 2205.01152

Deep Learning-Based Super-Resolution and De-Noising for XMM-Newton Images

Sam F. Sweere·Ivan Valtchanov·Maggie Lieu·Antonia Vojtekova·Eva Verdugo·Maria Santos-Lleo·Florian Pacaud·Alexia Briassouli·Daniel Cámpora Pérez
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Abstract

The field of artificial intelligence based image enhancement has been rapidly evolving over the last few years and is able to produce impressive results on non-astronomical images. In this work we present the first application of Machine Learning based super-resolution (SR) and de-noising (DN) to enhance X-ray images from the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton telescope. Using XMM-Newton images in band [0.5, 2] keV from the European Photon Imaging Camera pn detector (EPIC-pn), we develop XMM-SuperRes and XMM-DeNoise deep learning-based models that can generate enhanced SR and DN images from real observations. The models are trained on realistic XMM-Newton simulations such that XMM-SuperRes will output images with two times smaller point-spread function and with improved noise characteristics. The XMM-DeNoise model is trained to produce images with 2.5x the input exposure time from 20 to 50 ks. When tested on real images, DN improves the image quality by 8.2%, as quantified by the global peak-signal-to-noise ratio. These enhanced images allow identification of features that are otherwise hard or impossible to perceive in the original or in filtered/smoothed images with traditional methods. We demonstrate the feasibility of using our deep learning models to enhance XMM-Newton X-ray images to increase their scientific value in a way that could benefit the legacy of the XMM-Newton archive.

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Sam F. Sweere, Ivan Valtchanov, Maggie Lieu, Antonia Vojtekova, Eva Verdugo, Maria Santos-Lleo, Florian Pacaud, Alexia Briassouli, Daniel Cámpora Pérez. 2022-08-25. Deep Learning-Based Super-Resolution and De-Noising for XMM-Newton Images. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras%2Fstac2437

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