title: Maximum-Likelihood Methods for Processing Signals From Gamma-Ray Detectors.
abstract: In any gamma-ray detector, each event produces electrical signals on one or more circuit elements. From these signals, we may wish to determine the presence of an interaction; whether multiple interactions occurred; the spatial coordinates in two or three dimensions of at least the primary interaction; or the total energy deposited in that interaction. We may also want to compute listmode probabilities for tomographic reconstruction. Maximum-likelihood methods provide a rigorous and in some senses optimal approach to extracting this information, and the associated Fisher information matrix provides a way of quantifying and optimizing the information conveyed by the detector. This paper will review the principles of likelihood methods as applied to gamma-ray detectors and illustrate their power with recent results from the Center for Gamma-ray Imaging.
authors.affiliation: Center for Gamma-ray Imaging and the Department of Radiology, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85724 USA. They are also with the College of Optical Sciences, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721 USA ( barrett@radiology.arizona.edu ).
authors.forename: Harrison H
authors.initials: HH
authors.lastname: Barrett
authors.forename: William C J
authors.initials: WC
authors.lastname: Hunter
authors.forename: Brian William
authors.initials: BW
authors.lastname: Miller
authors.forename: Stephen K
authors.initials: SK
authors.lastname: Moore
authors.forename: Yichun
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: Lars R
authors.initials: LR
authors.lastname: Furenlid