ENERGY-CHANNEL Conversion Table

This table contains information about the channel-energy relationship for RXTE PCA data for the three gain epochs 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 - present). In each case the data were generated for the full PCA with all detectors and layers added, using FTOOLS 3.7. 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 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.

EPOCH:                            1               2               3
DATE:                     through 3/21/96   3/21/96-4/15/96   after 4/15/96
(time boundary:)		      (18:33:39)	(23:05:59)

        
          CHANNEL               E_MAX           E_MAX           E_MAX
       (Abs)  (Standard2)        keV             keV             keV

               
	0-4	0 		 1.24 		 1.41 		 1.71
	5	1 		 1.50 		 1.73 		 2.08
	6	2 		 1.77 		 2.04 		 2.44
	7	3 		 2.03 		 2.35 		 2.81
	8	4 		 2.29 		 2.67 		 3.17
	9	5 		 2.56 		 2.98 		 3.54
	10	6 		 2.82 		 3.29 		 3.90
	11	7 		 3.09 		 3.61 		 4.27
	12	8 		 3.35 		 3.92 		 4.63
	13	9 		 3.62 		 4.23 		 5.00
	14	10 		 3.88 		 4.55 		 5.37
	15	11 		 4.15 		 4.86 		 5.73
	16	12 		 4.42 		 5.18 		 6.10
	17	13 		 4.68 		 5.49 		 6.47
	18	14 		 4.95 		 5.81 		 6.84
	19	15 		 5.21 		 6.12 		 7.20
	20	16 		 5.48 		 6.44 		 7.57
	21	17 		 5.75 		 6.75 		 7.94
	22	18 		 6.01 		 7.07 		 8.31
	23	19 		 6.28 		 7.38 		 8.68
	24	20 		 6.55 		 7.70 		 9.04
	25	21 		 6.81 		 8.02 		 9.41
	26	22 		 7.08 		 8.33 		 9.78
	27	23 		 7.35 		 8.65 		 10.1
	28	24 		 7.61 		 8.96 		 10.5
	29	25 		 7.88 		 9.28 		 10.8
	30	26 		 8.15 		 9.60 		 11.2
	31	27 		 8.42 		 9.92 		 11.6
	32	28 		 8.69 		 10.2 		 12.0
	33	29 		 8.95 		 10.5 		 12.3
	34	30 		 9.22 		 10.8 		 12.7
	35	31 		 9.49 		 11.1 		 13.1
	36	32 		 9.76 		 11.5 		 13.4
	37	33 		 10.0 		 11.8 		 13.8
	38	34 		 10.3 		 12.1 		 14.2
	39	35 		 10.5 		 12.4 		 14.6
	40	36 		 10.8 		 12.7 		 14.9
	41	37 		 11.1 		 13.1 		 15.3
	42	38 		 11.3 		 13.4 		 15.7
	43	39 		 11.6 		 13.7 		 16.0
	44	40 		 11.9 		 14.0 		 16.4
	45	41 		 12.1 		 14.3 		 16.8
	46	42 		 12.4 		 14.6 		 17.2
	47	43 		 12.7 		 15.0 		 17.5
	48	44 		 13.0 		 15.3 		 17.9
	49	45 		 13.2 		 15.6 		 18.3
	50	46 		 13.5 		 15.9 		 18.7
	51	47 		 13.8 		 16.3 		 19.0
	52	48 		 14.0 		 16.6 		 19.4
	53	49 		 14.3 		 16.9 		 19.8
	54-5	50 		 14.9 		 17.5 		 20.5
	56-7	51 		 15.4 		 18.2 		 21.3
	58-9	52 		 15.9 		 18.8 		 22.0
	60-1	53 		 16.5 		 19.5 		 22.8
	62-3	54 		 17.0 		 20.1 		 23.6
	64-5	55 		 17.6 		 20.8 		 24.3
	66-7	56 		 18.1 		 21.4 		 25.1
	68-9	57 		 18.7 		 22.1 		 25.8
	70-1	58 		 19.2 		 22.7 		 26.6
	72-3	59 		 19.8 		 23.4 		 27.3
	74-5	60 		 20.3 		 24.0 		 28.1
	76-7	61 		 20.9 		 24.7 		 28.9
	78-9	62 		 21.4 		 25.3 		 29.6
	80-1	63 		 22.0 		 26.0 		 30.4
	82-3	64 		 22.5 		 26.6 		 31.2
	84-5	65 		 23.1 		 27.3 		 31.9
	86-7	66 		 23.6 		 27.9 		 32.7
	88-9	67 		 24.2 		 28.6 		 33.5
	90-1	68 		 24.7 		 29.2 		 34.2
	92-3	69 		 25.3 		 29.9 		 35.0
	94-5	70 		 25.9 		 30.5 		 35.8
	96-7	71 		 26.4 		 31.2 		 36.5
	98-9	72 		 27.0 		 31.9 		 37.3
	100-1	73 		 27.5 		 32.5 		 38.1
	102-3	74 		 28.1 		 33.2 		 38.9
	104-5	75 		 28.7 		 33.8 		 39.6
	106-7	76 		 29.2 		 34.5 		 40.4
	108-9	77 		 29.8 		 35.2 		 41.2
	110-1	78 		 30.3 		 35.8 		 42.0
	112-3	79 		 30.9 		 36.5 		 42.7
	114-5	80 		 31.5 		 37.2 		 43.5
	116-7	81 		 32.0 		 37.8 		 44.3
	118-9	82 		 32.6 		 38.5 		 45.1
	120-1	83 		 33.2 		 39.2 		 45.9
	122-3	84 		 33.7 		 39.8 		 46.7
	124-5	85 		 34.3 		 40.5 		 47.4
	126-7	86 		 34.9 		 41.2 		 48.2
	128-9	87 		 35.4 		 41.9 		 49.0
	130-1	88 		 36.0 		 42.5 		 49.8
	132-3	89 		 36.6 		 43.2 		 50.6
	134-5	90 		 37.1 		 43.9 		 51.4
	136-8	91 		 38.0 		 44.9 		 52.6
	139-41	92 		 38.9 		 45.9 		 53.8
	142-4	93 		 39.7 		 46.9 		 55.0
	145-7	94 		 40.6 		 47.9 		 56.2
	148-50	95 		 41.5 		 49.0 		 57.4
	151-3	96 		 42.3 		 50.0 		 58.6
	154-6	97 		 43.2 		 51.0 		 59.8
	157-9	98 		 44.1 		 52.0 		 61.0
	160-2	99 		 44.9 		 53.1 		 62.2
	163-5	100 		 45.8 		 54.1 		 63.4
	166-8	101 		 46.7 		 55.1 		 64.6
	169-71	102 		 47.6 		 56.2 		 65.8
	172-4	103 		 48.4 		 57.2 		 67.1
	175-7	104 		 49.3 		 58.2 		 68.3
	178-80	105 		 50.2 		 59.3 		 69.5
	181-3	106 		 51.1 		 60.3 		 70.7
	184-6	107 		 52.0 		 61.4 		 72.0
	187-9	108 		 52.9 		 62.4 		 73.2
	190-2	109 		 53.8 		 63.5 		 74.4
	193-5	110 		 54.7 		 64.5 		 75.7
	196-8	111 		 55.5 		 65.6 		 76.9
	199-201	112 		 56.4 		 66.6 		 78.2
	202-4	113 		 57.3 		 67.7 		 79.4
	205-7	114 		 58.2 		 68.7 		 80.7
	208-10	115 		 59.1 		 69.8 		 81.9
	211-3	116 		 60.1 		 70.9 		 83.2
	214-6	117 		 61.0 		 71.9 		 84.4
	217-9	118 		 61.9 		 73.0 		 85.7
	220-2	119 		 62.8 		 74.1 		 86.9
	223-5	120 		 63.7 		 75.2 		 88.2
	226-8	121 		 64.6 		 76.2 		 89.5
	229-31	122 		 65.5 		 77.3 		 90.8
	232-4	123 		 66.4 		 78.4 		 92.0
	235-7	124 		 67.4 		 79.5 		 93.3
	238-41	125 		 68.6 		 80.9 		 95.0
	242-5	126 		 69.8 		 82.4 		 96.7
	246-9	127 		 71.1 		 83.8 		 98.5
	250-5	128 		 72.9 		 86.0 		 101.