Science Tools Working Group
The current release version (since October 22) of the Science Tools is now v9r8p1. The driver for the update from v9r8 was the fix for gtobssim simulations using merged flight FT2 files; see below.
Data products: The proposed update to the Science Data Products File Format Document for the changes to FT2 (LS-005) has been sent to David B. for consideration for the next revision of the document.
Databases and related utilities
No news
Likelihood analysis
No news
GRB tools
No news
Pulsar tools
From Masa: "In the pulsar tool development, we fixed two JIRA issues (PULS-48 and PULS-49), and made minor improvements in error messages, prompts, Doxygen documents, and so on. The latest tagged versions as of this writing are timeSystem v6r1, pulsarDb v8r1, pulsePhase v8r1, and periodSearch v10r3. Currently we are working on the errors in their unit tests that the release manager is showing."
Observation simulation
As Jim reported last week, there was a logic error in the code introduced in observationSim v8r2 to compute livetime information for merged FT2 files. See OBS-13. This is fixed in observationSim v8r3 (in the current release of Science Tools).
John V. is looking into whether we have the most-current documentation in the Workbook for gtorbsim, and into the possibility of providing examples of the various input files to go with the documentation.
User interface and infrastructure (& utilities)
No news
Source Catalog
The Catalog group met last week (2x including a rump session on Friday); the topics were quite wide ranging, from studies of sources detected to potential associations in other astronomical catalogs.
Science Tools Working Group
The current release version of the Science Tools is now v9r8. Here is the list from the Release Manager of the differences.
We had a Science Tools meeting last Wednesday (11 attendees). Much of the discussion was about how to make relevant parts of the User Workbook documentation available to guest investigators next year via the FSSC, while keeping the documentation in synch. The freeze/test/release plan for the Science Tools to be released by the FSSC was also discusssed. Basically, the freeze will be the end of this month; Dave Davis sent a schedule for what happens next to scisoftlist.
Data products: Regarding the planned additions to FT2 contents, Andrea has modified ft2util to provide the new columns. The new version is being tested.
Databases and related utilities
No news.
Likelihood analysis
No specific news, although you will be reminded from the RM link above that a number of useful updates have accumulated since the last release.
You will notice that in v9r8 gtselect now prompts for a zenith angle limit. Providing one is a good idea even if you are analyzing only survey-mode data, especially because sun avoidance and other maneuvers can bring the horizon into the FOV even during these times. Currently 105 deg is commonly used. If you don't want to make a cut on zenith angle, specify the limit as 180 deg.
GRB tools
No news
Pulsar tools
The new release incorporates all of the various updates that have been described in these reports over the last couple of months.
Masa has noticed a bug in gtbary in the new release; see the details in his posting PULS-49. Under certain circumstances, gtbary ignores (and does not report) errors in computing geocentric and barycentric times. The outputs are correct if the inputs are correct, but if you run gtbary as a standalone tool you don't get any warnings if you come up against this bug.
Masa reports that this does not affect any of the other pulsar tools. The current workaround for gtbary is to continue to use the v9r7p1 version [or live dangerously].
Observation simulation
Reminder: Jim has updated gtobssim to allow it to process merged flight FT2 files. This is a great convenience for simulating as-flown pointing and livetime histories; formerly the gaps between the runs required simulations to be made run-by-run and then merged. See the Science Tools Update for October 14.
STOP PRESS There was a logic error in the code introduced in observationSim v8r2 to compute livetime information for merged FT2 files. See obs-13@jira. This is fixed in observationSim v8r3.
In v9r8 the gtorbsim tool is now the orbit/attitude simulator that derives from the Tako planning system in the FSSC. The simulation is somewhat idealized but it can make, e.g., pointed observations with earth avoidance and survey-mode observations with a user-specified rocking profile. The inputs are described in the User Workbook, although we do not have examples yet of all of the input files. The simulator was written by Giuseppe Romeo, and it is currently supported by John Vernaleo; Analia Cillis wrote the documentation.
User interface and infrastructure (& utilities)
No news
Source Catalog
The Catalog group did not meet last week; next meeting is tomorrow.
Science Tools Working Group
The current release version of the Science Tools remains v9r7p1 - 2+ months of stability. In the current release candidate (HEAD1.690) a number of updates for Likelihood and the pulsar tools (see below) are pending; see this summary from the Release Manager.
Data products: The planned additions to FT2 contents are posted are closer to implementation; Andrea is working on modifications to ft2util and will produce some test files using a new ft2.tpl file. The revised format will be submitted as a change to the File Format Document for the LAT science data products
Databases and related utilities
No news.
Likelihood analysis
No news
GRB tools
No news
Pulsar tools
From Masa: "In the pulsar tool development, we added a geocentric option to gtbary. Two JIRA issues (PULS-46 and 47) were fixed. Some tools add leapsecfile parameter (hidden) to specify a leap second file, just in case a user want it other than a system default. As a result, all the pulsar tools change their version numbers. The latest versions as of this writing is timeSystem v6, pulsarDb v8, pulsePhase v8, and periodSearch v10r2p1." [N.B. These updates are not yet in a release version of Science Tools]
Observation simulation
There was an unannounced change in the flux package in how it handles FT2 files with gaps. Now it apparently silently interpolates across those gaps instead of raising an exception as it had before. I've modified gtobssim to return zero livetime if a candidate event arrives during a gap. The upshot is that gtobssim can now be run reliably on FT2 files with gaps. (observationSim v8r2)
User interface and infrastructure (& utilities)
No news
Source Catalog
Last week's discussion included a comparison of pointlike and gtlike results for the August source list. Juergen also described his use of gtlike to obtain model-independent spectra. Benoit showed a very interesting sensitivity map for August. Will not meet this week.
Science Tools Working Group
The current release version of the Science Tools remains v9r7p1.
Data products: The planned additions to FT2 contents are posted and still working their way toward implementation. The additions related to rocking angle will become more relevant in the near future with the enabling of ARRs.
You may have followed some newly-posted JIRAs on the science data products this week. One you might notice is a 1-second error in DATE-OBS and DATE-END keyword strings, apparently owing to incorrect handling of leap seconds. This does not affect how the Science Tools run (although my impression - to be confirmed - is that the start_date-to-MET conversion used by gtobssim has the reciprocal leap second bug - harmless unless you are trying to simulate using an as-flown pointing history, in which case it is just annoying).
Databases and related utilities
No news.
Likelihood analysis
No news
GRB tools
No news
Pulsar tools
From Masa: "In the pulsar tools development, gtpulsardb now records a log of database creation process in HISTORY keywords of the primary header of the output file, and the pulsar tools that handle ephemeris database files now report the information for higher chattiness level (chatter=4 or larger). Also, the pulsar tools that create a FITS file writes all parameter values into HISTORY keywords of the output file.
We are hoping that those additional records will help users (and us) diagnose a problem when it happens." [N.B. These updates are not yet in a release version of Science Tools]
Observation simulation
No news, although see Data Products notes above
User interface and infrastructure (& utilities)
No news
Source Catalog
Last week's discussion was more about the August source list and associations. Will meet this week.