Peak deconvolution - How much information can I get from these peaks?

In summary, the conversation discusses how the speaker took pictures of two materials, A and B, in different samples. Material A appears white and material B appears black in the images. The speaker then makes a histogram of the images and notes that the peak for the mixed sample is slightly wider than the peak for the pure material, indicating that there may be some information that can be extracted from the mix. The speaker is unsure of what this information may be and asks for clarification on the setup and parameters of interest.
  • #1
blonk
1
0
I need some help understanding how much information I can pull out of this data. I have a sample made up of two materials. Materials A and material B. Then I took a picture of the sample.

The two materials mix quite well, but not perfectly, so on my image I can see that some areas are mostly material A, some are mostly material B, and most of the areas are a mix between.

I also took an image of a sample consisting only of material A.

On my images material A will look white, and material B will look black.

If I make a histogram of the image of material A (and only A) it has the center around 6 [A.U] which fits my theory. The histogram also has a FWHM of 0.55 [A.U.]

The same histogram of material A & B is centered around 7 [A.U] which also fit my theory since it's a 50:50 mix of A & B and A is centered at 6 [A.U] and B should be centered at 8 [A.U]. The FWHM of this peak 0.64 [A.U] - thus only slightly larger than the image with pure A.

Here's my problem, since the peak with the mix only is slightly wider than the peak for the pure material it means that my resolution i not good enough to distinguish the two materials from each other (if I could see areas with pure material A or B it would be a camel/double-peak, if I could see areas with mostly material A or B I would have a very wide peak - here I only have a slightly wider peak). However, it is still wider, so there must be some kind of information I can subtract.

I'm not really sure what - if any.

EDIT: If anything is unclear, please ask!
 
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  • #2
Some questions about your setup:
- your distribution is 1-dimensional, or at least you are interested in the 1-dimensional projection only?
- both A and B do not "fill" the space, so their concentration can be anything from 0 to whatever?
- do you expect that B behaves similar to A (FWHM of 0.55 in a pure sample of B)?
- how does your mixing occur? And which parameter do you want to extract?
- do you expect that the distribution of B is a convolution of the "B only distribution" and some "mixing distribution"? If yes, and both are gaussian (or some other nice function), FWHM is proportional to the square of the variance, and that variance is the sum of the individual values. This allows to calculate a "mixing distribution".
 

1. What is peak deconvolution?

Peak deconvolution is a mathematical process used to separate overlapping peaks in a dataset, typically from a spectroscopic or chromatographic experiment. This allows for more accurate analysis and quantification of individual peaks.

2. How does peak deconvolution work?

Peak deconvolution works by using mathematical algorithms to estimate the individual components of a complex peak. It takes into account the shape, width, and intensity of the peaks to separate them and provide a more accurate representation of the data.

3. What information can I get from peak deconvolution?

Peak deconvolution can provide information such as the number of components in a mixture, their relative concentrations, and their individual spectra or chromatograms. This can be useful for identifying and characterizing compounds in a sample.

4. Can peak deconvolution be used for all types of data?

Peak deconvolution can be used for a variety of data types, including spectroscopic, chromatographic, and mass spectrometry data. It is most commonly used for complex datasets with overlapping peaks, but may not be suitable for highly noisy or low signal-to-noise data.

5. Are there any limitations to peak deconvolution?

While peak deconvolution can be a powerful tool for data analysis, it is not without limitations. It relies on accurate peak shape and intensity information, and may not work well for heavily skewed or asymmetric peaks. It is also important to use appropriate algorithms and parameters for the specific dataset to ensure reliable results.

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