Most of MEM's power to remove sidelobes comes from the positivity constraint. Hence, if the source sits on a background level of emission, then the sidelobes will not be removed fully. The only consistently effective solutions are either (a) to remove point sources using `CLEAN', whose modeling assumption is better suited to them, or (b) to smooth the dirty image prior to deconvolution. In our experience, (a) is superior.
1996 November 4
10:52:31 EST