PIMMS Version 4.11/4.11a/4.101 Release Notes

• New in Version 4.11/4.11a/4.11b (Released 2020 Feb 27/Aug 26/2021 Mar 11)
  • Version 4.11b contains an updated set of effective area curves for Chandra instruments, suitable for Cycle 23 proposal preparation.
  • Version 4.11a contains updated effective area curves for INTEGRAL ISGRI, NICER, and XMM-Newton EPIC instruments. The update for ISGRI is the first since 2008 and changes in PIMMS outputs are notable. The new effective area curve for NICER is suitable for Cycle 3 proposers, although the differences are minor compared with the previous (Cycle 2) version. The update of the various EPIC effective area curves is intended for AO-20 propoers, but the differences from the previous (AO-19) versions are smaller than other the likely precision of PIMMS estimates.
  • Version 4.11 contains a new X-ray absroption model: an approximation of the tbabs model in xspec, with the "wilmquot; abundances. This model is now the deafult; should it be desirable, the new ABSORPTION command can be used to specify the old (Morrision and McCammon) absorption model. The two can result in predictions that are different by about 10% from each other.
  • Version 4.11 updates the instrument specific output for XMM pn. The changes reflect the fact that the project does not support the use of timing and burst options for EPIC pn with thin or medium filters any more; these modes continue to be supported with the thick filter, however.

This file was last modified on Monday, 24-Jan-2022 10:50:16 EST