QDP Output files created by XRONOS applications always start with a series of QDP/PLT commands; these are (see the QDP/PLT specifications):
LA T ....... Contains some basic infos: source name, year of observ. + summary from 1st file of each series (e.g. instrument channel range etc.) LA OX ...... Contains start/stop times of analysed data (times refer to the center of the 1st and last good newbins) READ SERR .. Specifies which vectors in file have errors CO 1 ON .... Specifies which vectors will be plotted by default CO 0 ON .... Specifies which vectors will not be plotted by default VPORT ...... Specifies the QDP/PLT viewport CSIZE ...... Specifies the label character size LA Y1 ...... Describes the X-axis variable (i.e. vector number 1) LA Yn ...... Describes the Y-axis variable n-1 (i.e. vector number n) (n is not specified if only 1 Y-variable is plotted)Then a number of lines starting with ! follow: these are regarded as comments by QDP/PLT but they contain useful infos obtained from XRONOS applications and some of them are read by XRONOS applications. Note that in the description below k is the number of input series used by the applications which creates the file.
! file ..... Specifies QDP output filename and XRONOS application used ! created .. Specifies file creation date and XRONOS version used ! iflags ... the 20 numbers in the following two lines starting with `!!0` are the INTEGER FLAGS used in analysis ! rflags ... the 10 numbers in the following two lines starting with `!!0` are the REAL FLAGS used in analysis !H ......... Describes the content of the XRONOS HEADER LINE !!H ........ XRONOS HEADER LINE !! new/int.. Describes the content of the INTEGER VARIABLES in the following k lines (lines containing the relevant variables start with `!!1`, `!!2` or `!!3`, respectively, for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd series) !! avg(c/s). Describes the content of some of the REAL VARIABLES in the following 2k lines (lines containing the relevant variables start with `!!1`, `!!2` or `!!3` and lines containing the errors of the corresponding variables start with `!E1`, `!E2` and `!E3`, respectively, for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd series). !! min(c/s). Describes the content of the other REAL VARIABLES in the following 2k lines (lines containing the relevant variables start with `!!1`, `!!2` or `!!3` and lines containing the errors of the corresponding variables start with `!E1`, `!E2` and `!E3`, respectively, for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd series). !! epoch .. Describes the content of some of the DOUBLE PRECISION VARIABLES in the following k lines (lines containing the relevant variables start with `!!1`, `!!2` or `!!3`, respectively, for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd series) !! newb ... Describes the content of the other DOUBLE PRECISION VARIABLES in the following k lines (lines containing the relevant variables start with `!!1`, `!!2` or `!!3`, respectively, for the 1st, 2nd and 3rd series) !! ........ Dummy lineThen all the lines containing vectors (in the QDP/PLT sense) follow. Gaps in the vector(s) are indicated by the (QDP/PLT) value =-1.2e-34. Note that in .qefs files two additional QDP/PLT label lines are written at the end of the file.
The DEV ... command (specifying the plot device), the PLOT VERT ... command (used only when more than one Y-variable is plotted by default), any additional plot options (specified from individual applications such as lc2, or through a .pco file) and the EXIT command (for automatic plotting) are written at the end of the file.
Note that errors on the Y-axis variables are evaluated from the standard deviation of the average (based on measured scatter), as opposed to (theoretical) error propagation, depending on the value of the 9th global parameter.
Below is the meaning of each flag
Below is the meaning of each flag
The Xronos header line starts with !!H and contains the following information
newb/int .... requested number of newbins in interval intv/frame .. requested number of intervals in frame (-1 means: frame=intv) good bins ... number of good bins analysed in frame good newb ... number of good newbins analysed in frame good intv ... number of good intervals in frame bin anal .... requested number of analysis bins before rebinning bin result... expected number of result bins after rebinning
Note that errors on the variables below are evaluated from the standard deviation of the average (based on measured scatter), as opposed to (theoretical) error propagation, depending on the value of the 9th global parameter. For some variables only the former errors are available. Averages are unweighted.
avg(c/s) .... average count/s in frame (average of averages in intervals) frac.expos... fractional exposure in frame (from average of fractional exposures in intervals)(fractional exposure in interval = = ratio of good newbins to number of newbins/interval) variance .... variance in frame (average of variances in intervals) expec.var.... expected variance in frame (average of expected variances in intervals) (expected variance in interval is calculated from the error bars of the newbins) 3rd moment... 3rd moment in frame (average of 3rd moments in intervals) min(c/s)..... minimum count/s in frame (error=0) max(c/s)..... maximum count/s in frame (error=0) excess var... excess variance in frame (average of excess variances in intervals)(excess variance in interval = variance-exp.var.) chi-square....chi-square in frame (average of chi-squares in intervals) rms variation rms fractional variation in frame (average of rms fractional variation in intervals)(rms fractional variation in interval = sqrt(excess var)/avg(c/s) )
epoch or 1st newb .... epoch used in folding or time center of first newbin analysed (days)(=2nd number in Xronos header line) frme baryc.time ...... barycenter time of frame (average of barycenter time of intervals)(days). To be used as `center` time of a frame weighted for gaps, rejected data etc. period(s) ............ period (secs) in folding newb duration ........ newbin duration (secs)(=1st number in Xronos header line) first good newb ...... center time of first good newbin in frame last good newb ....... center time of last good newbin in frame (=3rd number in Xronos header line)