Automated spectroscopy of X-ray and gamma-ray pulse height spectra using energy space subdivision

A new model for the automated analysis of X-ray and gamma-ray multi-channel pulse height spectra is presented. The goal of the algorithm is to efficiently and accurately converge on the background and elemental factors while limiting human influence to the a priori defined knowledge of the detector characteristics. This information includes generic estimates of the continuum with defined elemental response functions. The energy space of the spectrum is subdivided and each subspace is fit independently. By considering all possible elemental line combinations within each energy subspace an optimal line combination is determined from the minimal squared error over each reconstructed elemental line combination. In this paper, we briefly review the background issues and motivations for the present research. The paper will present the algorithms and discuss related issues for elemental analysis of actual integrated spectra obtained from the Mars Odyssey Gamma-ray spectrometer.