.help mekal Feb97 ftools.heasarc
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NAME
MEKAL -- Generates an XSPEC table file for the MEKAL plasma emission model
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USAGE
mekal [<filename> [<tstart> [<tend> [<ntsteps> [<efilenm> [<density> 
      [<clobber> ]]]]]]]

mekal <filename> [tstart=<tstart>] [tend=<tend>] [ntsteps=<ntsteps>]
      [efilenm=<efilenm>] [density=<density>] [clobber=<clobber>]

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DESCRIPTION
MEKAL runs the Mewe-Kaastra-Leidahl plasma emission code and creates
an XSPEC table file that can be used for fitting to observed spectra.
The mekal model in XSPEC uses such a file however this ftool allows
users of XSPEC to create their own version of the model with a different
grid of temperatures or different energy binsizes.

The temperature grid calculated is in <ntsteps> logarithmic steps from
<tstart> to <tend> (which are specified in keV). The energy binsizes
are specified in the ascii file <efilenm>. The first line of this file
is the start energy for the bins (in eV). Subsequent lines should comprise
two numbers, the first is the binsize (in eV) and the second is the number
of bins at this binsize.

The MEKAL code uses files stored in the XSPEC directory tree so XANADU must
be installed to run this task.
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PARAMETERS
.ls filename [string]
The name of the output XSPEC table model file.
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.ls tstart [real]
The first temperature in the grid (in keV).
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.ls tend [real]
The last temperature in the grid (in keV).
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.ls ntsteps [int]
The number of logarithmic steps in the temperature grid.
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.ls efilenm [string]
The name of the ascii file to read to get the energy binsizes.
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.ls density [real]
The plasma density (cm^-3). It is probably OK to leave this at one.
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.ls clobber [bool]
If clobber = yes then overwrite the output file if a file of this name already
exists.
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BUGS
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