Add --persistence-spots, a second parameter-free detector alongside --adaptive-spots.
Instead of a hard per-ring threshold it builds the noise-normalised image
z = (I - ring_mean) / sqrt(ring_sigma^2 + read^2) (same per-ring background as the
hard variant) and scores every intensity maximum by its 0-D topological persistence:
sweeping the height from high to low, each maximum is born and, when its basin meets
a taller one at a saddle, dies with persistence = birth - saddle, in sigma. A lone
noise spike merges into the background almost immediately (persistence ~1 sigma); a
real peak stands many sigma proud. Emitting maxima whose persistence clears the same
z(E) significance bar needs no photon threshold and no min-pix, and it deblends
touching peaks (each keeps its own maximum). Implemented with the same union-find
idiom as the connected-component labeller.
On serial stills this auto-adapts with no per-dataset tuning like --adaptive-spots,
finding fewer but cleaner (deblended) spots; the hard-threshold variant remains more
sensitive on the very weakest data. Both share the per-ring background and read-noise
floor. comp_of is allocated lazily so the default and hard-adaptive paths pay nothing.
Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 (1M context) <noreply@anthropic.com>
leonarski_fandClaude Opus 4.8
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