{
  "abstract": "Spatial resolution in preclinical cone-beam micro-CT is bounded by two reconstruction-independent limits, a photon-noise limit from the projection-domain signal-known-exactly, background-known-exactly (SKE/BKE) ideal observer with the Rose criterion, and an angular-sampling limit from the Crowther criterion. The photon-noise bound is a property of the input data and applies to any reconstruction algorithm. The angular-sampling bound applies to classical analytic and iterative reconstructions (FDK, FBP, SIRT) that do not inject signal priors. We derive both limits in closed form for a circular feature in a uniform background, including an off-axis fan-beam extension, and combine them into a spatially varying effective resolution map. The combined limit yields a closed-form scan-design optimum. The maximum worst-case spatial frequency scales as the cube root of the total photon budget per detector pixel (per-view flux times number of views), and an analytic rule sets how to split that budget between flux and views. We illustrate the framework on a representative preclinical micro-CT scanner, with parametric sweeps over flux and projection count that show how each acquisition parameter reshapes the resolution map. An accompanying open-source web calculator implements these bounds for arbitrary scanner geometries.",
  "abstract_shown": true,
  "affiliations": [],
  "article_type": "Journal reference: Med. Phys. 53(11), e70737 (2026)",
  "arxiv": "2607.12998",
  "author_total": 2,
  "authors": [
    {
      "name": "Falk L. Wiegmann"
    },
    {
      "name": "Nancy L. Ford"
    }
  ],
  "bibtex": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/486c2yt3vn0bd.bib",
  "cited_by": 0,
  "doi": "10.48550/arxiv.2607.12998",
  "fulltext_url": null,
  "id": "486c2yt3vn0bd",
  "issns": [],
  "landing_url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.12998",
  "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",
      "physics.med-ph"
    ]
  ],
  "openalex": null,
  "pdf_url": "https://arxiv.org/pdf/2607.12998",
  "pmcid": null,
  "pmid": null,
  "published": "2026-07-14",
  "publisher": null,
  "ris": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/486c2yt3vn0bd.ris",
  "sources": [
    {
      "first_seen": "2026-10-30T12:36:22Z",
      "native_id": "2607.12998",
      "source": "arxiv",
      "url": "https://arxiv.org/abs/2607.12998"
    }
  ],
  "subjects": [
    {
      "field": "physics",
      "origin": "arxiv:physics.med-ph",
      "subfield": "biological-medical"
    }
  ],
  "title": "Reconstruction-Independent Resolution Limits in Preclinical Cone-Beam Micro-CT: A Closed-Form Analysis",
  "title_text": "Reconstruction-Independent Resolution Limits in Preclinical Cone-Beam Micro-CT: A Closed-Form Analysis",
  "type": "preprint",
  "updated_at": "2026-11-01T12:20:44Z",
  "url": "https://research.draconitic.com/paper/486c2yt3vn0bd",
  "venue": "arXiv",
  "versions": [
    {
      "doi": "10.1002/mp.70737",
      "pid": "8kvh0bzvbw770",
      "relation": "published-as",
      "title": "Task-based detectability and angular-sampling bounds on spatial resolution in cone-beam micro-CT: a closed-form scan-design analysis.",
      "venue": "Medical physics"
    }
  ]
}