Statistical Characterization of PIXL Trace Element Detection Limits
ResourceType
Dataset
DOI
https://doi.org/10.7936/5bc9-0k33
Grant/Award Number and Agency
NASA M2020 Participating Scientist
funderName
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
awardNumber
Grant #80NSSC21K0328
Abstract
Trace element detection and mapping are some of the key capabilities of the Planetary Instrument for X-ray Lithochemistry (PIXL) on board the Mars 2020 rover Perseverance. However, poor signal-to-noise ratios due to the short integration times required to make high-spatial-resolution map scans operationally feasible raise the possibility of misidentifying statistical noise as a signal from a trace element, which can cause a large number of false detections of a trace element among the hundreds to thousands of data points in each PIXL scan. Here, we apply a statistical technique to quantify the likelihood of such misidentifications and determine what concentration of a trace element must be present to reach statistical confidence in a detection. This approach is anticipated to be applicable both when analyzing existing PIXL data to ensure that noise is not misinterpreted as signals from trace elements and operationally as a tool to inform scan parameters when trace elements of interest are anticipated to be present.
ORCID
https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4646-2852
Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Size
68 MB
Recommended Citation
Christian, John R.; VanBommel, Scott J.; Elam, William T.; Ganly, Brianna; Hurowitz, Joel A.; Heirwegh, Christopher M.; Allwood, Abigail C.; Clark, Benton C.; Kizovski, Tanya V.; and Knight, Abigail L., "Statistical Characterization of PIXL Trace Element Detection Limits" (2023). Digital Research Materials (Data & Supplemental files). 109.
https://openscholarship.wustl.edu/data/109
Publication Date
2023