Maximum entropy analysis of analytically simulated complex fluorescence decays

We tested a Maximum Entropy Method developed for oversampled data (SVD-MEM) on complex analytically simulated exponential decay data consisting of both noisy and noiseless multi-exponential fluorescence decay curves. We observed recovery of simulated parameters for three sets of data: a decay containing three exponential functions in both intensity and anisotropy curves, a set of intensity decays composed of 4, 5 and 6 exponential functions, and a decay characterized by a Gaussian lifetime distribution. The SVD-MEM fitting of the noiseless data returned the simulated parameters with the high accuracy. Noise added to the data affected recovery of the parameters in dependence on a data complexity. At selected realistic noise levels we obtained a good recovery of simulated parameters for all tested data sets. Decay parameters recovered from decays containing discrete lifetime components were almost independent of the value of the entropy scaling parameter γ used in the maximization procedure when it changed across the main peak of its posterior probability. A correct recovery of the Gaussian shaped lifetime distribution required selection of the γ-factor which was by several orders of magnitude larger than its most probable value to avoid a band splitting.