ASA's Interstellar Boundary Explorer (IBEX) satellite collects data on energetic neutral atoms (ENAs) that can provide insight into the heliosphere boundary between our solar system and interstellar space. Using these data, scientists can construct maps of the ENA intensities (often, expressed in terms of flux) observed in all directions. The ENA flux observed in these maps is believed to come from at least two distinct sources: one source which manifests as a ribbon of concentrated ENA flux and one source (or possibly several) that manifest as smoothly-varying globally-distributed flux. Each ENA source type and its corresponding ENA intensity map is of separate scientific interest. In this paper, we develop statistical methods for separating the total ENA intensity maps into two source-specific maps (ribbon and globally-distributed flux) and estimating corresponding uncertainty. Key advantages of the proposed method include enhanced model flexibility and improved propagation of estimation uncertainty. We evaluate the proposed methods on simulated data designed to mimic realistic data settings. We also propose new methods for estimating the center of the near-elliptical ribbon in the sky, which can be used in the future to study the location and variation of the local interstellar magnetic field.

翻译：天文学协会的星际边界探索者(IBEX)卫星收集了能动中中性原子的数据,这些数据有助于深入了解太阳系和星际空间之间的日光层边界;利用这些数据,科学家可以绘制从所有方向观测的ENA强度(通常以通量表示)的地图;这些地图中观察到的ENA通量据信至少来自两个不同的来源:一个源显示为浓度集中的ENA通量的丝带,另一个源(或可能若干个)显示为平稳分布全球的通量的源(或若干个);每个ENA源类型及其对应的ENA强度地图都具有不同的科学利益;在本文件中,我们制定统计方法,将ENA总强度地图分为两种源特定地图(直线和全球分布通量表示),并估计相应的不确定性;拟议方法的主要优点包括增强模型灵活性和改进估计不确定性的传播;我们评价了为模拟现实数据环境而设计的模拟数据的拟议方法;我们还提出了新的方法,用以估计近星际磁带变化中心,今后可进行地面研究。