SciSim is the tool developed by the SOC for modelling XMM-Newton observations. It can be downloaded by XMM-Newton users for modelling sources and observation scenarios that are not described in this document. SciSim is capable of creating output files in the Observation Data File (ODF, § 6.1.1) format. For the conversion of the output files (described in the following) to ODFs, SciSim contains so-called ODF converters (see the SciSim online help, under ``Users Guide'', ``Detailed Users Guide'', ``ODF converters'' for details). ODFs can be analysed using the SAS software (§ 6.1), making a direct comparison between models and observations possible. SciSim also contains a suite of utilities (Appendix A.4) to exchange SciSim input and output format with FITS format.
In order to make this document self-contained, we include here a general
description of SciSim. Note that this is meant to be only a short
introduction. The following is not a complete description of SciSim.
For the most up-to-date information the SciSim online help should
be consulted which is available at the following URL:
http://xmm2.esac.esa.int/external/xmm_sw_cal/scisim_frame.shtml
Step-by-step description on how to make simulations for the different X-rays instruments can be found in the following threads:
| EPIC-pn | http://xmm2.esac.esa.int/scisim/scisim_threads/pn/SciSimPNThread.html |
| EPIC-MOS | http://xmm2.esac.esa.int/scisim/scisim_threads/mos/SciSimMOSThread.html |
| RGS | http://xmm2.esac.esa.int/scisim/scisim_threads/rgs/SciSimRGSThread.html |