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OATS-UNI/TS SEMINAR
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Speaker: Paul Hewett (Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge Univ., UK)

Title: Extracting physics from spectra
Date: Thursday, February 9th, 2012
Time: 11:30
Venue: Villa Bazzoni
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Abstract: Spectroscopic observations have been a fundamental part of observational astrophysics for more than a century. Notwithstanding the dramatic technological advances of the last two decades, that have led to major improvements in the resolution, wavelength coverage and quality, many analysis spectral techniques have remained largely unchanged. Few established techniques attempt to utilise the full information content of astronomical spectra. By contrast, recently developed statistical techniques offer the opportunity of extracting significantly more information, with a direct benefit for making progress on current problems in astrophysics. I will illustrate the power of some blind source separation techniques, utilising samples of Sloan Digital Sky Survey spectra, to investigate astrophysical problems related to quasars and galaxies.
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Contact: Stefano Cristiani (INAF- OAT)