replaced broken power law model code with C++

Rationalized the broken power law model code. Rewritten in C++ and calls powerLaw to evaluate individual sections of the model.

cflux model

One thing to note about the cflux model which is not clear in the documentation is that the model component(s) to which cflux is applied must integrate to a non-zero flux. For instance, cflux*pow where the pow norm is zero will generate NaNs from a divide-by-zero.

obscure extractor bug

Under some circumstances ROTANG elements in the output region extension could have junk values but only for region types where the rotation angle is irrelevant. This is fixed in extractor v5.14.

updated xselect XMM script

Updated the script run by save spectrum in the XMM case since I had assumed that CCDNR was the first DS keyword which appears not to always be the case.

WebSpec diagonal response

In answer to a request from Andy Lawrence I've added a unit diagonal response option to WebSpec. It appears at the bottom of the Mission/Instrument menu.

bug in addascaspec

The addascaspec perl script in HEAsoft v6.7 does not run. A fixed version is available through the HEAsoft bugs page. Note that addascaspec can be used for spectra from missions other than ASCA.

definition of cemekl model

Paul Nulsen points out that the help for the cemekl (and cevmkl) model is misleading. The actual differential emission measure equation is dEM = (T/T_{max})^{alpha-1} dT/T_{max}. The documentation will be changed to match this.

patches for xspec v12.5.1

Patches 12.5.1a - k are available at the usual place. The most important are 12.5.1c and e which add the Solar abundances from Asplund et al. (2009) to the options and 12.5.1i which modifies the way the recorn model works (following comments from Rick Rothschild).

max size of GTI arrays in extractor

At Lorella's request I increased the allowed GTI array size to 200,000. This should really be a dynamic array but that would require an extensive rewrite.

Solar abundances in xspec

Jeremy Sanders provided Solar abundances from Asplund, Grevesse & Sauval (2005) which I have added to abundances.dat in the develop version of xspec.

Update 9/8/09: Martin Asplund supplied values from his 2009 ARAA paper so I used them instead for the aspl abundance option.

light curves with extractor

Alex requested a way of better controlling the start time of a light curve created using extractor. I've added a new parameter lcstart which sets the time of the first bin (in spacecraft time units). This is checked into the development version as extractor v5.12.

cleansis

We have seen a few cases of observations of bright sources using Suzaku where running cleansis creates a hole in the image. Part of the problem is running with too high a log probability parameter but there is also a subtle error when iterating. Pixels which are already identified as bad and have their counts set to zero are still included when calculating the local background. This artificially lowers the estimated background hence increases the probability that a pixel will be flagged as bad.

I changed the algorithm so that pixels flagged as bad in previous iterations are ignored when calculating the local background. This change has been checked into the development version.

New release

HEAsoft 6.7 is now available. This includes XSPEC v12.5.1. The biggest change is in gain fitting which has been reworked as the preliminary step towards allowing the creation of response models. Response models will be created analogously to spectral models and will be used to either replace or augment response matrices.

This release is also the first which does not include XSPEC v11. This version has in practice not been supported for some time and it is getting increasingly difficult to ensure that it builds and runs on all systems.

XSPEC bug fixes update

12.5.0af	The zredden multiplicative model component is calling the same function as redden, and therefore its redshift parameter has no effect. Our thanks to Brian Refsdal for pointing this out. Report added on May 05, 2009.
12.5.0ag	When in setplot wave mode and the user's Xspec.init file entry for WAVE_PLOT_UNITS is set to angstrom, plot efficiency and plot icounts don't display due to a missing plot label error. Our thanks to Maurice Leutenegger for pointing this out. Report added on May 08, 2009.
12.5.0ah	Fix to sqrt(2) error in the definition of the thermal broadening used in APEC models. Our thanks to Irina Zhuravleva for pointing this out. Report added on May 21, 2009.
12.5.0ai	This adds a new C-callable function to provide access to the version string for users linking the XSPEC models library into their own programs. The function is declared in src/XSUtil/FunctionUtils/xsFortran.h, and has the prototype: int xs_getVersion(char* buffer, int buffSize); Report added on May 22, 2009.
12.5.0aj	The model command fails to parse expressions that are explicitly of the form: M(M1(A1)+M2(A2)+M3(A3)). Our thanks to Jeremy Sanders for pointing this out. Report added on May 22, 2009.
12.5.0ak	When soft limits are in use during fitting, the pegged parameter test should be comparing the actual value against the hard limits, not the adjusted value. Otherwise the parameter may in some cases peg too soon. Report added on June 08, 2009.
12.5.0al	The same sqrt(2) fix mentioned in patch 12.5.0ah is needed when thermal broadening is turned on for v2.0 NEI models. Our thanks to Richard Sturm for pointing this out. Report added on June 08, 2009.

xselect cleansis

Fixed a bug spotted by Ed Cackett that the iterate_clean parameter is not recognized. Just needed to add it to the xselect.key file.

Note that there are issues turning up using the probabilistic sisclean tool for bright Suzaku sources. There is a tendency for the core of the PSF to be removed. Suggested fixes are either to change the critical probability or turn the iteration off.

self-irradiated funnel

Pavel Abolmasov sent in his self-irradiated funnel model (Abolmasov et al. 2009) and I added an entry to the new models web page.

addascaspec

The perl script addascapec, which is actually useful for other missions in addition to ASCA, had a couple of problems which I've fixed. The default errmeth should have been POISS-0 instead of POISS-1 and this parameter was not being used when summing background spectra.

Lexicon of handy statistical methods

Andrew Gelman's statistical lexicon.

bug in thermal broadening

Irina Zhuravleva at MPE pointed out that the thermal broadening option in the xspec apec model gives a sigma which is a factor of sqrt(2) too large. Fortunately, I don't think has any science implications since there have been no observations capable of measuring this broadening.

update on 6/8/09: Richard Sturm points out there is the same error in the NEI code.

panda/epanda/bpanda regions

I've added support to cfitsio region filtering for the panda/epanda/bpanda regions produced by ds9. Note that this assumes only one azimuthal region and one annulus although the region specification itself allows multiple for both. Made corresponding changes in extractor though note that the FITS region extension written in this case is not covered by the standard which does not include these shapes.