BPULSARSPEC (May)              ftools.gro              BPULSARSPEC (May)



NAME
        bpulsarspec --  Reads  BATSE  pulsar  database  files,  displays
        the   hardness  ratio  vs  phase  or  time,  flux vs phase. Save
        data as graphics FJPG/PS/GIF) or simple FITS or ASCII files.
    
    
    
USAGE
    bpulsarspec bpulsfil data_dir tjdsta tjdstp phsta phstp chani  chanj
    chanm chanm FitsFname device
    
    
    
DESCRIPTION
    The  bpulsarspec program constructs a summed counts as a function of
    pulsar-rotation phase, and a function  of  detector  energy  channel
    from  BATSE  occultation  data FITS file (lad_pll  or oll type), for
    user specified  time cuts (in TJD), phase  intervals,  and  detector
    energy  channels.  It  also   displays  the  hardness vs. channel or
    phase to the screen  or  to  a  plotting  file  according  to  users
    specified  time,  energy or phase cuts. In addition, a PHA FITS file
    can be produced as  output  covering  the  selected  viewing  period
    range  for all (usually 16) spectral energy  channels. Note however,
    that the resulting spectrum is not background subtracted, and  there
    is  no  simple  tool or procedure for modelling the background. This
    could in principle be  accomplished  using  the  BATSE  daily  data,
    using  for example the related BCONT FTOOL to select and extract the
    appropriate segments.
    
    The BATSE pulsar database, and  related  information  are  available
    through      the      HEASARC,     or     on     the     web     at:    
    <ftp://cossc.gsfc.nasa.gov/compton/data/batse/occultation>     (also    
    see  <http://cossc.gsfc.nasa.gov/batse/index.html>.  In  addition, a
    description of BATSE pulsar data analysis is given in Bildsten,  L.,
    et al., 1997, ApJ Sup, v.113, p.367 .
    
    
    
PARAMETERS
    
    bpulsfil [string]
        The name of BATSE occultation data FITS file (lad_plltype)
    
    tjdsta [double]
        start time (Truncated Julian Date)
    
    tjdstp [double]
        stop time (Truncated Julian Date)
    
    binsz [integer]
        the  size  of  each  time  bin  in  units  defined  by  the time
        intrincic sampling of the database file
        
    
    data_dir [string]
        the directory containing the input files
    
    phsta [integer]
        start phase bin (1-64)
    
    phstp [integer]
        stop phase bin (1-64)
    
    chani [integer]
        start channel of the soft soft-energy band
    
    chanj [integer]
        stop channel of the soft soft-energy band
    
    chanm [integer]
        start channel of the hard hard-energy band
    
    chann [integer]
        stop channel of the hard hard-energy band
    
    FitsFname [string]
        name of Fits file to be created
    
    fitswt [string]
        use counts (c) or rates (r) for diplay, and in PHA output file
        
    
    asciiwt [string]
        write hardness in asiic data files (yes/no)"
    
    device [string]
        optional string to display hardness vs. TJD plot. Either  /xwin,
        or /ps, or /gif, or /jpg
    
    
EXAMPLES 
           This generates three output files:
    
           1. crab_9103_test.pha in TJD between 9103.004 and 9103.960.
    
           2.   asiic   files:  hardnphs.dat  and  hardntjd.dat  in  the 
           directory data_dir
    
           3. display Hardness on xwindow.
    
    The parameter file input for this case would be:
    
    name of directory for data files:[]data
    name of BATSE occultation data file (NHIS type):[]crab_09103_lad_pll.fits
    the size of each TJD bin:[]3
    start time (Truncated Julian Date):[]9103.004
    stop time (Truncated Julian Date):[]9103.960
    start phase:[]2
    stop phase:[]58
    start channel of the soft:[]2
    stop channel of the soft:[]7
    start channel of the hard:[]8
    stop channel of the hard:[]16
    name of Fits file to be created:[]crab_9103_test.pha
    write counts or rates? (c/r)[]r
    Do you want to write hardness in asiic data files? (yes/no)[]yes
    name of device for ploting(/xwin,/ps,/gif)[/Xwin] /Xwin
    
    
    
FILES NEEDED
    BATSE   Earth   occultation    flux   history   files,    found   at
    <ftp://cossc.gsfc.nasa.gov/compton/data/batse/occultation>,     then    
    placed  in  "data_dir",  e.g. data_dir/cygx-1_10351-10470_nhis.fits.
    The Viewing Period list file "vp_list.fits",is  also  required;  see
    <ftp://cossc.gsfc.nasa.gov/compton/>.  This  should also also placed
    in data_dir/vp_list.fits
    
    
BUGS
    
    
SEE ALSO
bodgetvp, bod2rmf, bod2pha, groview