NAME

arf2arf1 - convert a Type 2 ARF file to a Type 1 ARF file

USAGE

        arf2arf1 infile outfile

DESCRIPTION

The Ancillary Response File (ARF) is used in combination with the detector Redistribution Matrix File (RMF) by the XSPEC spectral fitting package. In a Type 2 ARF file multiple ARFs are packed into a single binary table, one per row. A Type 1 ARF file, on the other hand, only contains a single ARF in each binary table extension. The process of converting a Type 2 ARF to a Type 1 ARF involves expanding each row of the Type 2 file into a separate binary table extension in the Type 1 file.

Both types of ARF tables contain 3 columns containing floating point data values: 'ENERG_LO', 'ENERG_HI', and 'SPECRESP'. The difference is that these are scalar columns in Type 1 files and vector columns in Type 2 files. The 3 vectors in the Type 2 file must have the same length. The number of rows in the output Type 1 ARF table extensions will be equal to the length of the vectors in the Type 2 files.

PARAMETERS

infile [filename]

The name of the input Type 2 ARF file.

outfile [filename]

The name of the output Type 1 ARF file. Precede it with an exclamation point, '!', to force fcopy to overwrite a preexisting file of the same name.

(rows = "-") [string]

Range of rows to be processed in the input ARF 2 table. For example, "1-5,10" will process the first 5 rows as well as the 10th row. By default every row of the input file will be processed. Each row will be converted into a separate ARF 1 table extension in the output file.

(energ_lo = ENERG_LO) [string]

The name of the column containing the lower energy range.

(energ_hi = ENERG_HI) [string]

The name of the column containing the upper energy range.

(specresp = SPECRESP) [string]

The name of the column containing the spectral response.

EXAMPLES

1. Convert the input Type 2 ARF to a Type 1 ARF

         ft> arf2arf1 inarf.fits outarf.fits

SEE ALSO

CATEGORY