Select one of the given options to determine the scale of the corresponding axis on the Burst Spectrum plot. A logarithmic scale for Burst History is currently not available.
If this button is ON when the FITS file is read, the directory that contains the FITS file is searched for a lookup file based on the FITS file name and your lookup file extension (see top of the file wing.pro; default extension is .wgsp_lookup). The lookup file is automatically read and the menu updated with the lookup file parameters. See the Lookup Filename command below for a description of the lookup file.
This option determines WINGSPAN's behavior when the user attempts to read a second (or further) FITS file. If the button is ON, WINGSPAN will ask if a single spectrum from the currently displayed Burst History should be selected for joint fitting. If the user responds with Yes, the program will wait until a single spectrum is selected from the Burst History plot. If needed, the appropriate DRM file will be read, and finally, the new FITS file. From this point on, the single spectrum from the first FITS file is available for joint fitting with data from subsequent FITS files (maximum of 8). It is up to the user to ensure that the times of the spectra selected from two or more detectors match. Joint fitting of spectra from different times is essentially meaningless. You can always select a new spectrum from the current Burst History and go back to any previously read FITS file, as long as Joint Fitting is ON: first enter the name of the old file into the FITS Filename selection box. Note that batch fitting with more than one detector's data selected doesn't make sense in this context. This will be fixed in a future release of the software.
You can always read in a new FITS file by entering a file name or file filter in this box (if Joint Fitting is ON, you will first be given the chance to select a spectrum from the current file). You can bring up the file selection box at any time by clicking on the button. Some navigation through your directory structure may need to be done before you find the directory and file desired. WINGSPAN starts by looking in the directory specified by WING_SCRATCH in the file wing.pro. You may enter WING_SCRATCH = 'DEFAULT' to use the current directory.
WINGSPAN includes several functions that allow you to change the width and number of the energy and time bins of your data and to change the background model. Once you have rebinned your data to your liking and/or created a background model, you can save the binning and background model to a file for recall in a later session. This lookup file can only be used with the current data FITS file, whose name appears in the main text menu, since the time binning and selection depends upon the total number of time bins in the data file, and is not guaranteed to be the same in another data file.
WINGSPAN automatically creates a lookup filename based on the FITS filename. If desired, you may change the name for this file by selecting Lookup Filename. Like the FITS Filename box, this box will accept a wildcard specification. After selecting the desired Lookup file, a point and click menu will appear to determine if you wish to Read a saved lookup file or to Save the current settings. These two topics are discussed in the following paragraphs.
When you select Save, the binning of your data is saved in the file named by the Lookup Filename field. The binning you save becomes the program's default binning (see Default Lookups). This command also saves the range selection information for the observed spectra, the background spectra and the selected energies. This is all the information needed to restore the current WINGSPAN session; it is highly recommended that you save the lookups after you have selected and binned the data, and created the background model.
Read restores parameters saved with the Save command. The binning is restored from the file named by the Lookup Filename field in the text menu and becomes the program's default binning. In addition, range selection information is restored for the observed spectra, background spectra (if applicable) and the selected energies. After the background spectra selection is read, WINGSPAN will calculate the fit coefficients for the selected background model. This procedure essentially restores a previous WINGSPAN session completely, so that all you need to do to resume fitting spectra from a burst is select the Fit Spectrum/MFIT command from the main menu (see §2.3).
These selections invoke the control variable selector. Control variables are user defined parameters the control various aspects MFIT (and WINGSPAN to some extent). The control variables are defined in the file wingspan/idl_source/mfit_control.dat. This file may be copied and customized for personal preferences. You must change the parameter WING_CONTROL_DEF in wing.pro if you want to use a customized version; the software will not allow you to overwrite the default file mfit_control.dat in the WINGSPAN source directory. Selecting these buttons from the Preferences menu will automatically create the file mfit_control.dat in the directory WING_SCRATCH. A help file is available to provide an explanation of the functions of all control variables. Select one of the menu options to access the help file. The control variable selector for Plotting is shown in Figure 5.
Figure 5:
Control Variable Selector
This selection initiates a menu to change plotting parameters. These parameters will affect all subsequent plots. You must reset the values to turn off any changes you make. This menu is shown in Figure 6.
Figure 6:
Plot Labels / Options
Plot Title is an option to enable you to change the main title for plots. You may change the axis titles by entering the character string with which you wish to label the corresponding axis on your spectral history plot. These strings conform to the format rules for IDL's vector drawn fonts.
The Annotate options allow you to add a text string to the Burst History and Burst Spectrum plots. These will appear on your hardcopy output; reset to to a null string if you do not want the text to appear on your hardcopies. You may set the size of the plot annotations; the default size is 1.5, and zero is a valid option. Several global plot properties can also be set. These are designed mainly so you can customize the hardcopy output. You can obtain a grid by setting the tick length to 1.0.
You may suppress the informational notes that are added to the bottom of hardcopy plots by setting the button Suppress Plot Notes to Yes. This will suppress the notes on ALL subsequent hardcopy plots. This option renders the MFIT control variable CV_SUPPRESS_2ND_LABELS obsolete.
There are two save sets available that allow you to toggle between plot settings. This is designed to allow an easy method to change between screen and hardcopy plot settings. The save sets are written to files in WING_SCRATCH, and will be available for use in subsequent WINGSPAN sessions that use the same directory for WING_SCRATCH.
Current lookup parameters can be viewed by choosing the Display Parameters command, showing the exact values for the selected energy, time and background bins. In addition, the order of the current background model (if any) is shown. All these values are stored in the Lookup file, however, the format of the Lookup file is not easily interpreted. You are presented with an option to save the parameters in a much more readable ASCII file with the same filename as the current FITS file and the extension `.par'.
From this menu, you may select the type of spectral history plot you wish to display.
Figure 7:
Spectral History Menu
The individual options available from the Spectral History command pulldown menu are discussed in the following paragraphs.
The Stacked Histories plot consists of time histories from the selected range of energy bins. Each time history is displayed on a separate set of rate axes. WINGSPAN will ask if it should display background-subtracted histories, which is useful if a plot of hardness ratios is desired. After displaying this plot, WINGSPAN will display the Stacked Histories menu (see Figure 8).
Figure 8:
Stacked History Menu
Some options only become available after performing displays.
With the Ratio command, you may display the ratio of any two of the time histories on the Stacked Histories plot. Select Ratio from the menu. WINGSPAN will wait for you to select two time histories from the Stacked Histories plot. Select a time history from the plot by moving the cursor to the history and pressing the left mouse button. The ratio plot will appear in a window labeled ``Processed history''. One of the time histories can be displayed in a separate window via the Display History command. The ``Processed History'' plot can be printed or zoomed by selecting the appropriate menu command.
The Stacked Spectra plot is similar to the Stacked Histories plot except that time is replaced by energy. On the Stacked Spectra plot, a sequence of consecutive spectra are plotted on separate axes.
When you select the Rate option from this menu, WINGSPAN will plot the spectrum in each of the selected time bins (see Select above). When you select Rate x Power law, WINGSPAN will display a menu of spectral indices. After you select a spectral index, WINGSPAN will plot the spectrum in each time bin times a power law parameterized by the index you selected. If you chose Background Subtracted Rate, a background spectrum will be calculated from the model coefficients as the mean of the background model over the accumulation time of each observed spectrum in the selection. Background subtraction and calculation of the combined errors is then performed and the background-subtracted spectra plotted in a stack in time order from earliest spectrum on the bottom to latest on the top. Alongside the Stacked Spectra plot, WINGSPAN will display a menu of commands (see Figure 9).
Figure 9:
Stacked Spectra Menu
Some options only become available after performing displays.
You can obtain a hardcopy of the Stacked Spectra plot by selecting the Create Hardcopy: Stacked Spectra command. The output will be sent to the device defined by WING_PRINTER. Select EXIT to return to the main menu.
With the Difference command, you may display the difference between two of the spectra on the Stacked Spectra Spectral History plot. WINGSPAN will wait for you to select two spectra from the Stacked Spectra plot. Select a spectrum from the plot by moving the cursor to the spectrum and pressing the left mouse button. The difference plot will appear in a window labeled Spectral Results.
With the Flatten command, you may display the spectrum in a single time bin multiplied by a power law (see the Rate x Power law command above). When you select this command, WINGSPAN will wait for you to select a spectrum from the Stacked Spectra plot. Select a spectrum by moving the cursor to the spectrum and pressing the left mouse button. After you select a spectrum to flatten, WINGSPAN will display a menu of spectral indices. Select a spectral index from this menu, and WINGSPAN will plot the flattened spectrum in the window labeled Spectral Results.
The Display Spectrum command allows you to choose one spectrum to plot in a window of its own, useful for when the Stacked Spectra plot has a large number of spectra displayed. When you select this command, WINGSPAN will wait for you to select a spectrum from the Stacked Spectra plot. Select a spectrum by moving the cursor to the spectrum and pressing the left mouse button. WINGSPAN will plot the spectrum in the window labeled Spectral Results.
The Display Background command allows you to see the background spectrum which was used to obtain each of the background-subtracted spectra in the Stacked Spectra plot. When you select this command, WINGSPAN will wait for you to select a spectrum from the Stacked Spectra plot. Select a spectrum by moving the cursor to the spectrum and pressing the left mouse button. The background spectrum at the time corresponding to the selected spectrum will be computed from the coefficients of the background model fit. WINGSPAN will plot the spectrum in the window labeled Spectral Results.
The Create Hardcopy: Spectral Results command will produce a hardcopy of whatever plot is displayed in the Spectral Results window. The output will be sent to the device defined by WING_PRINTER.
The Zoom Spectral Results commands set the axes of the Spectral Results window for display and hardcopy. These commands work in the same manner as the zooming commands described above under the Burst Spectrum command.
The Contour spectral history is a plot of the contours of constant rate versus energy and time.
The Surface and Hidden Line spectral histories are three dimensional plots of rate versus energy and time. Before displaying these plots, WINGSPAN will prompt you to enter a rotation angle for the plot. This angle determines the rotation of the time and energy axes about the rate axis. After displaying these plots, WINGSPAN will prompt you for another rotation angle. You may continue to change the rotation angle of the plot as long as you wish.
User-defined procedures can be easily added to WINGSPAN, and are accessed through a popup menu available when this button is selected. Edit a copy of the file wingspan/idl_source/external_routines.pro. Add your routine name to the menu string in this file, and place the procedure call in the CASE statement. The new procedure(s) should include the line @wgsp_cb.pro (in lowercase) at the top so that WINGSPAN variables are defined in the procedure. Examine this common block file and be sure that you do not alter any of the variable values within your procedure. You should also edit your copy of the file wing.pro to add a line that will compile your new procedure and to change the line to run your modified external_routines.pro in place of the default.
The QUIT command on the main menu exits WINGSPAN and returns you to the ``IDL'' prompt. All of the WINGSPAN variables and routines are now available for additional analyses of the data that are not currently available in WINGSPAN (see section 2.1.9 for instructions on adding new routines). To exit IDL, type ``exit'' at the prompt.
Color allows you to toggle the foreground and background plotting colors. Hardcopy plots are not affected; the foreground color is black and the background color is white for hardcopies.
HELP invokes a WWW browser defined in wing.pro, and displays this document in HTML format. If you do not have WWW access, a text help file will be displayed. Note that this text file is no longer supported, and some features of the current version of WINGSPAN may not be documented or may have changed.
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