BLC data analysis

User manual for analysing BLC data at the ISDC
For more information please read the individual help files of the programs used (e.g. blc_sa --help).

step	purpose	What you have to do
setup		have your own data_rep on your account. Follow the setup advice. For analysing of large data sets make sure to use a sufficient machine (e.g. isdcul10, crab, etc.)
setenv COMMONLOGFILE mylog.txt	define a logfile	If you want to have a log file, set it now. To unset it later just type "unsetenv COMMONLOGFILE"
emacs dols.txt	create a list of SCWs	Here are four examples, for ⁶⁰Co, ¹³⁷Cs, ²⁴¹Am, and ²⁴Na. The SCW number now corresponds to the RUN number from the Bruyeres-le-Chatel logbook but very long pointings have been split into several SCWs. You can access the complete Bruyeres-le-Chatel SPI calibration logbook as an ASCII file. Do not use the following science windows: 146 (last valid SCW / BLC run number is 410). Data should now be useful up to run number 410! For your planning also the Daily Task Plan for BLC might be useful.
og_create idxSwg="dols.txt" ogid="obs_id" baseDir="."	create the OG	give a (up to now not existing!) name for the obs-branch (obs_id).
cd obs/obs_id		go to your obs branch.
cp $ISDC_ENV/source_cat_in.fits .	copy source catalogue	Analysis is faster if you give to SPIROS and SPISKYMAX an input catalogue. This catalogue is assuming that the source is at position [0;0], which is true for BLC calibration.
blc_sa (if you want to avoid the GUI, unsetenv DISPLAY before starting blc_sa !)	do the analysis	start with blc_sa, fill in the parameters for the analysis. You can also use prepared blc_sa parameter files for the different sources used during calibration (copy the par file to blc_sa.par in your $PFILES directory). You can get a detector list if you are not familiar with our pseudo-detector scheme. Which IRFs do you want to use? Begin with small numbers of energy bins! Read also the SPIROS documentation.
...	wait	be patient!
fv spi/source_res.fits ...	output check	read the log file, check the images, events table and so on. If it is failing - check for missing/wrong input parameters first. In case you do not understand the problem, send the logfile and the parameter file and we will try to find out what went wrong.
blc_sa	step back and redo parts of the analysis	Run blc_sa again. Give the start level you want to begin with (e.g. when you want to define another binning of the data, start with BIN_I) and end-level (e.g. IMA). If this crashes, you have to remove everything and start from og_create again.