Solar image segmentation by use of mean field fast annealing

¹ Astronomical Institute, National Observatory of Athens, P.O. Box 20048, GR-11810 Athens, Greece
² Section of Astrophysics, Astronomy and Mechanics, Department of Physics, University of Athens, GR-15784 Athens, Greece
³ 'Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Télécommunications, Département Images, 46 rue Barrault, F-75634 Paris Cedex 13, France

Send offprint request to: E. Bratsolis (ebrats@atlas.uoa.gr)

Received: 8 September 1997
Accepted: 23 February 1998

Abstract

We present a "continuous” analysis of a solar image in order to address the problem of image segmentation. Our approach is based on combinatorial optimization methods and in particular on Mean Field Fast Annealing (MFFA). Mean-field theory gives a deterministic nature to our algorithm while its efficiency is improved by a fast cooling schedule. We show how this method can be used to separate efficiently the regions of different solar activity giving a tool for a future automated recognition and classification of sunspots.