A&A Supplement series, Vol. 127, February I 1998, 569-580
Received November 18, 1996; accepted May 20, 1997
M. Carbillet - C. Aime - É. Aristidi - G. Ricort
Send offprint request: M. Carbillet (marcel@procyon.unice.fr)
Département d'Astrophysique de l'Université de
Nice-Sophia Antipolis, Unité Mixte de Recherche 6525 du Centre
Nationale de la Recherche Scientifique,
Parc Valrose, 06108 Nice Cedex 2, France
The probability imaging technique applied to double stars speckle data
is presented within the framework of a new approach, giving more directly
the intensity ratio and relative position of the components. The twofold
probability density function is used for this purpose. A theoretical
model is developed, pointing out a relevant quantity deduced from the
twofold probability density functions of the binary system and a nearby
reference star. A method using this quantity is proposed to reconstruct
the binary system, together with a reference-less version of it. The
practical implementation of the method is tested for limiting cases and
is improved by numerical simulations. Making use of the resulting procedure,
intensity ratios and relative positions of the components are obtained for
three close binary stars: 
Del,
Moaï 
and 
Per.
keywords: methods: data analysis -- techniques: interferometric
-- binaries: visual -- stars: individual: Del --
stars: individual: SAO 12917 -- stars: individual: Per