HEASARC Staff Scientist Position - Applications are now being accepted for a Staff Scientist with significant experience and interest in the technical aspects of astrophysics research, to work in the High Energy Astrophysics Science Archive Research Center (HEASARC) at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, MD. Refer to the AAS Job register for full details.

Search:

[Advanced Search]



RXTE Helpdesk/FAQ RXTE What's New HEASARC Site Map

ENERGY-CHANNEL Conversion Table

(for FTOOLS 5.0.4, pca_e2c_e05v01.fits, and Epoch 5)

This table contains information about the channel-energy relationship for RXTE PCA data for the four gain epochs (1-4) and the latest calibration epoch (5) of the mission so far (Epoch 1 = launch through 3/21/96; Epoch 2 = 3/21/96 - 4/15/96; Epoch 3 = 4/15/96 - 3/22/99; Epoch 4 = 3/22/99 - 5/12/2000; Epoch 5 = 5/13/00 - present). In Epochs 1-4, the data were generated for the full PCA with all detectors and layers added, using FTOOLS 5.0.4 and the energy-to-channel file pca_e2c_e05v01.fits. For calibration Epoch 5, defined by the time of loss of the propane layer in PCU 0, the data were generated separately for PCU0 and for PCUs 1-4. Note that Epoch 5 simply refers to the loss of propane for PCU0, and does not imply a gain change for the PCA. If you have used earlier versions of the response matrix generation tools, you will notice small differences between your values and the values given here. (The FTOOLS 5.0 , FTOOLS 4.1 , and FTOOLS 3.7 energy-channel conversion tables are available for comparison.)

The PCA onboard electronics bin up the channels differently depending on which configuration has been requested. The first column contains the ORIGINAL (or absolute) channels, while the second column contains the channel binning for Standard 2 data (which is the type of data most RXTE analysts start on). Subsequent columns give the maximum energy bound for each channel.

IMPORTANT NOTES:

  • Remember that when you perform channel selection, the extractors require you to supply the ORIGINAL channel boundaries, regardless of the mode of data you are analyzing (Std2, Binned, Event, GoodXenon etc). For further details see the ABC guide, or the cookbook recipe "Creating and plotting light curves, hardness ratios and color-color diagrams."

  • The information in this table is useful for most cases, but should be considered only approximate (within a few percent). If you are performing analysis for which the exact values of the energy boundaries are critical, or if you are analyzing data from separate layers and detectors, you should generate a response matrix for your particular dataset and examine the channel-energy information contained in the first extension of the FITS file.

  • Note that the response matrix generator in FTOOLS 4.1 and higher now accounts for the slow gain drift in the PCA. This gain shift amounts to ~ 1 % over two years. The Epoch 3 and 4 values given in the table below are computed for the beginning of each epoch. 

                                                 
EPOCH:            1      2       3       4       5_PCU0  5_PCU1234
START DATE        -    3/21/96 4/15/96 3/22/99     5/13/00
STOP DATE:     3/21/96 4/15/96 3/22/99 5/13/00       -
(stop time:)   (18:33) (23:05) (17:37) (00:00)     


        
   CHANNEL     E_MAX   E_MAX   E_MAX   E_MAX    E_MAX   E_MAX
(Abs)  (Std2)   keV     keV     keV     keV      keV     keV

               

0-4	0	1.51	1.61	1.94	2.13	1.95	  2.06
5	1	1.76	1.91	2.29	2.54	2.38	  2.47
6	2	2.02	2.22	2.64	2.96	2.81	  2.87
7	3	2.27	2.52	2.99	3.37	3.24	  3.28
8	4	2.53	2.83	3.35	3.79	3.67	  3.68
9	5	2.78	3.13	3.70	4.21	4.09	  4.09
10	6	3.04	3.44	4.05	4.63	4.53	  4.49
11	7	3.30	3.75	4.41	5.04	4.96	  4.90
12	8	3.55	4.05	4.76	5.46	5.39	  5.31
13	9	3.81	4.36	5.12	5.88	5.82	  5.71
14	10	4.07	4.67	5.47	6.30	6.25	  6.12
15	11	4.32	4.98	5.82	6.72	6.68	  6.53
16	12	4.58	5.28	6.18	7.14	7.11	  6.94
17	13	4.84	5.59	6.54	7.56	7.55	  7.35
18	14	5.10	5.90	6.89	7.98	7.98	  7.76
19	15	5.35	6.21	7.25	8.40	8.42	  8.17
20	16	5.61	6.52	7.60	8.82	8.85	  8.57
21	17	5.87	6.83	7.96	9.24	9.28	  8.98
22	18	6.13	7.14	8.32	9.67	9.72	  9.40
23	19	6.39	7.45	8.68	10.09	10.16	  9.81
24	20	6.65	7.76	9.03	10.51	10.59	  10.22
25	21	6.91	8.07	9.39	10.93	11.03	  10.63
26	22	7.17	8.38	9.75	11.36	11.47	  11.04
27	23	7.43	8.69	10.11	11.78	11.90	  11.45
28	24	7.69	9.00	10.47	12.21	12.34	  11.87
29	25	7.95	9.31	10.83	12.63	12.78	  12.28
30	26	8.21	9.63	11.19	13.06	13.22	  12.69
31	27	8.47	9.94	11.55	13.48	13.66	  13.11
32	28	8.73	10.25	11.91	13.91	14.10	  13.52
33	29	8.99	10.56	12.27	14.34	14.54	  13.93
34	30	9.25	10.88	12.63	14.76	14.98	  14.35
35	31	9.52	11.19	12.99	15.19	15.42	  14.76
36	32	9.78	11.50	13.36	15.62	15.86	  15.18
37	33	10.04	11.82	13.72	16.05	16.30	  15.60
38	34	10.30	12.13	14.08	16.47	16.74	  16.01
39	35	10.57	12.45	14.44	16.90	17.19	  16.43
40	36	10.83	12.76	14.81	17.33	17.63	  16.85
41	37	11.09	13.08	15.17	17.76	18.07	  17.26
42	38	11.36	13.39	15.54	18.19	18.52	  17.68
43	39	11.62	13.71	15.90	18.62	18.96	  18.10
44	40	11.89	14.03	16.26	19.05	19.41	  18.52
45	41	12.15	14.34	16.63	19.49	19.85	  18.94
46	42	12.42	14.66	17.00	19.92	20.30	  19.36
47	43	12.68	14.98	17.36	20.35	20.75	  19.78
48	44	12.95	15.29	17.73	20.78	21.19	  20.20
49	45	13.21	15.61	18.09	21.22	21.64	  20.62
50	46	13.48	15.93	18.46	21.65	22.09	  21.04
51	47	13.74	16.25	18.83	22.08	22.54	  21.46
52	48	14.01	16.57	19.20	22.52	22.98	  21.88
53	49	14.28	16.89	19.56	22.95	23.43	  22.30
54-5	50	14.81	17.52	20.30	23.82	24.33	  23.15
56-7	51	15.35	18.16	21.04	24.70	25.24	  24.00
58-9	52	15.88	18.81	21.78	25.57	26.14	  24.85
60-1	53	16.42	19.45	22.52	26.45	27.05	  25.70
62-3	54	16.96	20.09	23.26	27.33	27.95	  26.55
64-5	55	17.50	20.74	24.01	28.21	28.86	  27.40
66-7	56	18.04	21.39	24.75	29.09	29.78	  28.26
68-9	57	18.58	22.03	25.50	29.97	30.69	  29.12
70-1	58	19.12	22.68	26.25	30.86	31.61	  29.97
72-3	59	19.67	23.33	27.00	31.74	32.52	  30.83
74-5	60	20.21	23.99	27.75	32.63	33.44	  31.70
76-7	61	20.76	24.64	28.50	33.52	34.36	  32.56
78-9	62	21.30	25.29	29.26	34.42	35.29	  33.43
80-1	63	21.85	25.95	30.02	35.31	36.21	  34.29
82-3	64	22.40	26.61	30.77	36.21	37.14	  35.16
84-5	65	22.95	27.27	31.53	37.10	38.07	  36.03
86-7	66	23.50	27.93	32.29	38.00	39.01	  36.91
88-9	67	24.06	28.59	33.06	38.91	39.94	  37.78
90-1	68	24.61	29.25	33.82	39.81	40.88	  38.66
92-3	69	25.17	29.91	34.59	40.72	41.82	  39.53
94-5	70	25.72	30.58	35.35	41.62	42.76	  40.41
96-7	71	26.28	31.25	36.12	42.53	43.70	  41.30
98-9	72	26.84	31.92	36.89	43.44	44.64	  42.18
100-1	73	27.40	32.59	37.67	44.36	45.59	  43.06
102-3	74	27.96	33.26	38.44	45.27	46.54	  43.95
104-5	75	28.52	33.93	39.22	46.19	47.49	  44.84
106-7	76	29.09	34.61	39.99	47.11	48.45	  45.73
108-9	77	29.65	35.28	40.77	48.03	49.41	  46.62
110-1	78	30.22	35.96	41.55	48.96	50.36	  47.52
112-3	79	30.79	36.64	42.34	49.88	51.33	  48.41
114-5	80	31.36	37.32	43.12	50.81	52.29	  49.31
116-7	81	31.93	38.00	43.91	51.74	53.25	  50.21
118-9	82	32.50	38.68	44.70	52.67	54.22	  51.12
120-1	83	33.07	39.37	45.49	53.61	55.19	  52.02
122-3	84	33.64	40.06	46.28	54.54	56.17	  52.93
124-5	85	34.22	40.74	47.07	55.48	57.14	  53.83
126-7	86	34.80	41.43	47.87	56.42	58.12	  54.74
128-9	87	35.38	42.13	48.66	57.37	59.10	  55.66
130-1	88	35.95	42.82	49.46	58.31	60.08	  56.57
132-3	89	36.54	43.51	50.26	59.26	61.07	  57.49
134-5	90	37.12	44.21	51.06	60.21	62.06	  58.40
136-8	91	37.99	45.26	52.27	61.64	63.54	  59.78
139-41	92	38.87	46.31	53.48	63.07	65.04	  61.17
142-4	93	39.75	47.36	54.70	64.51	66.54	  62.56
145-7	94	40.64	48.42	55.92	65.95	68.04	  63.96
148-50	95	41.53	49.49	57.14	67.40	69.55	  65.36
151-3	96	42.42	50.55	58.37	68.86	71.07	  66.76
154-6	97	43.32	51.62	59.60	70.32	72.59	  68.17
157-9	98	44.21	52.70	60.84	71.78	74.12	  69.59
160-2	99	45.12	53.78	62.08	73.25	75.65	  71.01
163-5	100	46.02	54.86	63.33	74.73	77.19	  72.43
166-8	101	46.93	55.95	64.58	76.21	78.74	  73.86
169-71	102	47.84	57.04	65.84	77.70	80.30	  75.30
172-4	103	48.76	58.13	67.10	79.19	81.86	  76.74
175-7	104	49.68	59.23	68.37	80.69	83.43	  78.18
178-80	105	50.60	60.33	69.64	82.20	85.00	  79.63
181-3	106	51.53	61.44	70.91	83.71	86.58	  81.09
184-6	107	52.46	62.55	72.19	85.23	88.17	  82.55
187-9	108	53.39	63.67	73.48	86.75	89.76	  84.02
190-2	109	54.33	64.79	74.77	88.28	91.37	  85.49
193-5	110	55.27	65.92	76.07	89.81	92.98	  86.97
196-8	111	56.22	67.05	77.37	91.36	94.59	  88.46
199-201	112	57.17	68.18	78.68	92.91	96.22	  89.95
202-4	113	58.12	69.32	79.99	94.46	97.85	  91.45
205-7	114	59.08	70.47	81.30	96.02	99.49	  92.95
208-10	115	60.04	71.62	82.63	97.59	101.14	  94.46
211-3	116	61.00	72.77	83.96	99.17	102.79	  95.97
214-6	117	61.97	73.93	85.29	100.75	104.46	  97.49
217-9	118	62.95	75.10	86.63	102.34	106.13	  99.02
220-2	119	63.93	76.27	87.98	103.93	107.81	  100.55
223-5	120	64.91	77.44	89.33	105.54	109.50	  102.09
226-8	121	65.90	78.62	90.69	107.15	111.19	  103.64
229-31	122	66.89	79.81	92.05	108.76	112.90	  105.19
232-4	123	67.89	81.00	93.42	110.39	114.61	  106.75
235-7	124	68.89	82.20	94.80	112.02	116.33	  108.32
238-41	125	70.23	83.80	96.64	114.21	118.65	  110.42
242-5	126	71.58	85.42	98.50	116.41	120.97	  112.53
246-9	127	72.94	87.04	100.37	118.63	123.32	  114.65
250-5	128	74.99	89.50	103.19	121.98	126.87	  117.86