{
  "abstract": "Optical intensity interferometry (II) can in principle resolve structure on angular scales $θ\\sim λ/B$, but it measures only the squared visibility $|{\\cal V}|^2$, discarding Fourier phase. We quantify what information can actually be recovered from phase-less $|{\\cal V}|^2$ measurements as a function of the aggregate signal-to-noise ratio and array configuration, using score-based diffusion models as non-parametric image priors. We construct an image reconstruction pipeline, and validate it by reconstructing a variety of images, including GRMHD simulations of black hole accretion disks and actual SDO/HMI continuum images of the Sun, from phase-less Fourier amplitudes. Using simulated data, we map the reconstruction fidelity of Sun-like stellar surfaces as a function of noise level, number of $(u,v)$ samples, and maximum baseline $B_{\\rm max}$, for surface maps spanning a range of activity levels. We find that fidelity depends on the data only through the total signal to noise ratio (SNR) of the surface features of interest, provided that the $(u,v)$ plane is sampled sufficiently densely. These results show that the SNR levels achieved by next-generation intensity interferometers observing realistic sources are sufficient to image highly complicated stellar surfaces.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": null,
  "arxiv": "2609.05602",
  "author_total": 3,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Neal Dalal"
    },
    {
      "name": "Biwei Dai"
    },
    {
      "name": "Matthew K. Browning"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3yf65sh5wegvj.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2609.05602",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "3yf65sh5wegvj",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.05602",
  "language": null,
  "licence": "LicenseRef-arXiv-nonexclusive-1.0",
  "licence_label": "arXiv licence",
  "licence_source": "article",
  "licence_url": "http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/",
  "metadata_licence": "CC0-1.0",
  "native_subjects": [
    [
      "arxiv",
      "astro-ph.IM"
    ],
    [
      "openalex",
      "3107|Adaptive optics and wavefront sensing"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": "W7211995644",
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2609.05602",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-09-04",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3yf65sh5wegvj.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:19:48Z",
      "native_id": "2609.05602",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2609.05602"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "astronomy",
      "origin": "arxiv:astro-ph.IM",
      "subfield": "instrumentation-methods"
    }
  ],
  "title": "The information content of optical intensity interferometry",
  "title_text": "The information content of optical intensity interferometry",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-10-30T12:19:48Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/3yf65sh5wegvj",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": []
}