xspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspec xspec xspec xspec XSPEC history file format xspec xspec xspec xspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspecxspec Through the use of the history XSPEC sub-command, a user can produce a binary file containing the results of his session. This may be used by following programs to extract, print, and plot summaries from the run. This is particularly useful when reducing large amounts of data using semi-automatic or batch facilities. The information is included in a history file (default extension XHS). The file is organized as an SF (standard format) file that includes a series of packages. The contents of each package is produced by a particular XSPEC command, in the order that the commands were executed. The following packages are currently defined, n.b. that not all of these are ouput by the current version of XSPEC (in fact not all are calculatable in the current version of XSPEC) as indicated by the preceeding '*'. `SF history' - the history of the history file (creation, etc). One can also be made every separate time the file is appended to. 'data files' - the current data files. Produced by executing the 'data', 'fakeit', or 'profile' commands. 'assoc. files' - any changes in the associated files, e.g. the background, response, and correction files. Produced by the 'data', 'backgrnd', 'response', 'corfile', 'fakeit', or 'profile' commands. 'channels' - the current number of channels, and noticed bins. 'data', 'ignore', 'notice', 'profile'. 'model' - the current model. 'addmodel', 'model', 'profile'. 'param def' - the map from fit parameters and constants to model parameter indices. Also the character string associated with a particular parameter. 'addmodel', 'model', 'define', 'profile'. 'param range' - the allowed range of parameters can take (as well as the current values). 'newpar', 'addmodel', 'model', 'freeze', 'thaw', 'profile'. 'fit' - the results of a fit, chisquare and fit parameter values, along with their errors as estimated by the correlation matrix method. 'fit' 'steppar' - the values of chisquare for particular values of parameters. 'steppar' 'error' - the actual confidence range of one or more fit parameters. 'error' 'equiv width' - an estimate of a models equivalent width. 'eqwidth' 'flux' - current model's flux over a given range. 'flux' 'spectrum' - observed and model spectrum for each bin together with lower and upper energy boundaries. 'dump' 'time' - elapsed time. 'time' Other packages may be designed in the future. The detailed description of the packages: 'data files' have no header and will produce a subsidiary record for each of the current number of files, in order: DGRPNO i4 - the group number (currently := 1) NCHAN i4 - the total number of pha channels defined for the detector. NBIN i4 - the total number of bins in the file before any ignores. NEWFILE L1 - the file has changed since the last time the data files were defined. FNAME C* - the data file name (could be as many as 72 chars). 'assoc. files' similarly have no header and will produce a subsidiary record for each CHANGE in the background, response, or correction files. INDEX i4 - the index of the corresponding data file number, i.e. the first data file has index 1. TYPE c1 - the type of file, 'R' indicates response, 'B' a background file, and 'C' a correction file. FNAME c* - the file name (as many as 72 chars). 'channels' has a 8 byte header: NCHAN i4 - the total number of unbinned channels for all data files (before grouping or ignores). NBIN i4 - the total number of bins for all files (after compression/grouping and ignores). There then follows a series of character strings of not more than 256 characters in length which when concatenated would provide a `gouping' card for all the data (see the description of the `grouping' package in DATA.DOC). 'model' has no header, and is followed by a subsidiary record for every model component: DGRPNO i4 - the data group number (currently := 1) GROUPNO i4 - the model group number (0 for the initial all-multiplicative group of models applied to the entire set of models). COMPNO i4 - the component number within a particular group (multiplicative models by definition have COMPNOs larger than all additive models of a goup). spare 8 - spare MNAME c* - the model name (as many as 8 chars). 'param def' has no header, and is followed by a subsidiary record for every model parameter: MODIND i4 - the index of the model, i.e. it was described by the MODINDth subsidary record of the `model' package. PARNO i4 - the corresponding parameter no. of that model (n.b. that the normalization of a model has a PARNO = 0). FITIND i4 - the corresponding fit parameter index. spare 8 - spare PNAME c* - the name of the parameter (as many as 8 chars) 'param range' has no header, and is followed by a subsidiary record for every fit parameter: FITIND i4 - the fit parameter index. INIT r4 - the initial value. DELTA r4 - the step size (also indicates frozen/thawed status) HARDLW r4 - the hard lower limit. SOFTLW r4 - the soft lower limit. SOFTHI r4 - the soft upper limit. HARDHI r4 - the hard upper limit. 'fit' has a 24 byte header record containing: ERROR i4 - the value of the error flag at the conclusion of the fit process. CHISQR r4 - the value of chi-squared. FUNCT r4(3) - function values NFIT i4 - number of fit parameters followed by 2 subsidiary records of variable length containing: VALUE r4(NFIT)- the values of every fit parameter. ESTERR r4(NFIT)- the estimated error (from the correlation matrix) for every fit parameter. 'steppar' has a 4 byte record: NPAR i4 - the number of parameters being stepped followed by NPAR subsidiary records of 20 bytes each FITIND i4 - the fit index number NSTEP i4 - the numbers of steps LOWPAR r4 - the lower limit of the stepping HIPAR r4 - the upper limit of the stepping LOG L4 if true, the steps are logarithmic followed by a subsidiary record for every set of trial values: ERRFLAG i4 - an error flag returned by the fit routine CHISQR r4 - the value of chisquared FUNCT r4(3) - evaluated function values. PAR r4(NPAR)- the stepped parameters values. 'error' has a 74 byte header record containing: ERRFLAG i4 - indications of an error in the determination. CHISQR r4 - minimum chisquared DELCHI r4 - the delta chisquared defining the confidence range FITIND i4 - the fit parameter no. BEST r4 - the best fit value LOW r4 - the lower fit value HIGH r4 - the higher fit value DELLOW r4 - the actual lower limit chisquared DELHI r4 - the actual upper limit chisqaured PEGLOW L1 - if true, the lower value is pegged PEGHI L1 - if true, the upper value is pegged FUNCT r4(3) - the best fit function values FUNCTLW r4(3) - the lower fit function values FUNCTHI r4(3) - the upper fit function values 'equiv width' has a 40 byte header record: MODIND i4 - the model index whose equivalent width is being estimated. ECNT r4 - the energy at which the continuum is evaluated. CNTPHT r4 - the continuum photon flux at ECNT. ECONLW r4 - the lower limit of the continuum integration. ECONHI r4 - the upper limit of the continuum integration. MODPHT r4 - the model component photon flux. EMODLW r4 - the lower limit of the model integration. EMODHI r4 - the upper limit of the model integration. EQP r4 - the equivalent width (using photon numbers). 'flux' has a 16 byte header ELOW r4 - the lower limit of the integration EHI r4 - the upper limit of the integration PFLUX r4 - the integrated number of model photons EFLUX r4 - the integrated energy flux 'spectrum' has a 52 byte header NBIN i4 - the total number of bins after ignore and notice commands EUNITS c24 - a character string for the energy units CUNITS c24 - a character string for the units of the spectrum followed by a subsidiary record of 16 byte for each bin. ELOW r4 - lower energy boundary of the bin EHI r4 - upper energy boundary of the bin PHAOBS r4 - observed spectrum PHAMOD r4 - model spectrum 'time' CTIME c20 - a character representation of the date and time. DELTIM r4 - elapsed clock time PERFORM i4(5) - an array of values used to measure performance (e.g. CPU time, page faults, IO ops etc.)