lcstats -- calculates statistical variables for 1 input time series and prints on the screen the results
lcstats file(s)+options window dtnb nbint
This task performs statistical analysis for one times series and prints the results on the screen (no output is produced). The input file format is FITS using the BINTABLE extension. Both binned data format and event format are input. Data can be rebinned and divided into Intervals (See GENERAL XRONOS TERMINOLOGY). Time, Phase, Intensity and Exposure windows (See WINDOW) allow for data screening. The quantities calculated are : newbin integration time; interval duration; number of good accepted newbins in interval; average (and its error); standard deviation; minimum and maximum count rate per interval; variance (amnd its Gaussian error) evaluated from the data scatter; expected variance from a constant source (and its Gaussian error), as evaluated from the errors in the newbin count rate; third moment; average absolute deviation; skewness (and its Gaussian error); RMS fractional variation (and its Gaussian error) or a 3 sigma upper limit if the variance is not larger than the expected variance at a confidence level higher than 99.86%; Chi-square and the corresponding number of degrees of freedom; constant source probability associated to the Chi-square value; constant source probability from a Kolmogorov-Smirnov test.
Within XRONOS tasks, BINS and NEWBINS control the binning used in the analysis, INTERVALS the subdivision of the time series and FRAME the grouping of the output results:
BINS : these are the time bins of the time series being analysed. More than one input file can have different bin durations, e.g. two consecutive time series, one with 0.5 s bins and the other with 2 s bins. The original bin time is the value stored in the input file in the keyword TIMEDEL. If the data are stored in each row as an array with 1CTYPn = 'TIME', the original bin is set to the value stored in the keyword 1CDLTn (where n is the column number).
NEWBINS : these correspond to the time resolution at which the analysis is carried out. Note that: (i) newbins cannot be shorter than the longest bin duration of the time series being analysed; (ii) in many XRONOS applications (e.g. powspec, autocor, crosscorr) the newbin duration is forced to be an integer multiple of the longest bin duration.
INTERVAL : an interval is defined by the number of newbins over which the analysis is carried out. Note that in applications using FFT algorithms (e.g. powspec, autocor and crosscor set in fast mode) the number of newbins in an interval is a power of 2.
FRAME : a frame consists of the average of the results of the analysis of one or more contiguous intervals. Note that in 'lcurve', 'efsearch' and 'lcstats' a frame consists always of one interval.
If any window is required during the analysis, a window file containing the relevant windows must be created with the application XRONWIN, before running a XRONOS task. There are 4 different types of windows :
* Time Windows : consist of up to 1000 time intervals
* Phase Windows : consist of an Epoch, a Period and up to 10 phase intervals
* Intensity Windows : consist of up to 10 intensity in bin, newbin and interval
* Exposure Windows : consist of up to 1 exposure in bin, newbin and interval
Intensity and Exposure Windows can be specified independently for: (i) Bins , (ii) New Bins , (iii) Intervals. When dealing with more than one time series, Intensity and Exposure Windows must be specified separately for each series. Time and Phase windows are applied to Bins. Intensity and Exposure windows are applied first to Bins, then Newbins and finally to Intervals as specified. For time and phase windows, only those bins whose center time is within the start and stop of a time window or phase window (for a specified epoch and period) are accepted. Intensity windows must be ordered with increasing intensity and if set for newbins can be used in conjunction with "Special Newbin Windows" (see below).
Exposure Windows consist of a minimum and a maximum exposure level. Units are such that 1 means 100% exposure. The Newbin Exposure is obtained by propagating the bin exposures to each newbin. For example, if in a 30 s newbin the total exposure (due to the sum of the individual exposure of the bins contributing to the given newbin) is 18 s then its exposure is 60%. The Interval Exposure is the ratio of accepted to expected newbins: for example, if a 128 newbin long interval contains only 32 accepted newbins, then its exposure is 25%. Many XRONOS application use some default exposure windows, which are designed to avoid analysing data sets which are too inhomogeneous with respect to their statistical properties. The minimum default Exposure windows in an Interval is set to 0.0 in the lcurve, efold and efsearch and to 0.5 (i.e. 50% exposure ) in all the other tasks. Note that exposures can be higher than 100% (e.g. if the newbin time is not a multiple of the bin time, then "beats" are generated which might bring the exposure of a newbin to values >100%; or if two or more input files for the same time series overlap in part, some of the newbins will be more than 100% exposed).
IMPORTANT NOTE WHEN TIME WINDOWS ARE SET IN THE WINDOW FILE: The time used within XRONOS tasks is Truncated Julian Days (TJD= JD-2440000.5) if either (1) the keyword MJDREF is present in the header or (2) if the TIMESYS value is one of the following strings MJD or JD or TJD. If (2), the time values are expected to be stored as JD, MJD or TJD in the header keywords and in the TIME column in which case the MJDREF keyword is not used (it should not be present). When Time windows are set using XRONWIN, they must be compatible with the values in header of the timing keywords and/or the values in the TIME column.
An additional window type called "Special Newbin Window" can be set directly from the parameter file. Special Newbin Windows are used to exclude the parts of a light curve which immediately follow or precede a burst or a background event which has been rejected by intensity windows in newbins. The Special Window operates on newbins in conjunction with intensity windows (in newbins) and are specified by changing to positive values the parameters 'spwinbefore' and 'spwindowafter'. Their use is the following: if e.g. spwinbefore is set =10, all newbins, whose center time is within 10 second before the center time of a newbin rejected by intensity windows, will also be rejected; if e.g. spwindowafter is set =20, all newbins, whose center time is within 20 second after the center time of a newbin rejected by intensity windows, will also be rejected.
To input multiple files for each time series, a file containing the list of files is needed (Filelist). The Filelist is input in the program as '@Filelist'. The format of this file list is ascii and contains one filename+options per line. Files from different times series are separated by '///' mark. Below is an example of the Filelist containing 2 files for 3 different times series.
file1_ser1
file2_ser1
///
file1_ser2
file2_ser2
///
file1_ser3
file2_ser3
The Input File Options (up to 10) can be specified for each file in the same input string. They consist of 2 characters followed by a numerical constant (up to 8 character long). There are two groups of options. The first allows data selection within a FITS extension. The available options within this group are :
frN= start reading input file from row number N (first row)
lrN= stop reading input file from row number N (last row)
vxN= use column number N as x-axis (i.e. time axis, default name is TIME)
vyN= use column number N as y-axis (default names are COUNT or RATE)
vsN= use column number N as error for y-axis (default name is ERROR)
veN= use column number N as exposure (default name FRACEXP).
If the input file is an event list, exposure is by default
calculated using the GTI extension. In this case, N=0
turns off the usage of the GTI extension for the exposure
calculation, and N > 0 specifies the GTI extension to use.
feN= select data (either binned or events) from channel number N (First Energy).
For an event list channel selection is made using the column named 'PHA'
leN= select data (either binned or events) to channel number N (Last Energy).
For event list the default column channel name searched is 'PHA'.
The option 'vcN' allows the choice of a channel column name different from 'PHA' (es. 'PI').
vcN= use column number N for channel selection (valid only for event lists).
rtN= use extension N of the FITS file to read the data. The first extension
is N=1 (the primary array is irrelevant). To specify the extension the
following also can be used: filename[N] or filename+N.
of = The MJDREF keyword is not used. The time is calculated using the
TIME column and the TIMEZERO keyword.
The second group of options performs algebraic operations on individual input files. They are applied in the same order in which are specified. For event files they are applied after the data are binned. The available options within this group are:
stX = Shift all Time in input file by X days
ssX = Shift all times in input file by X Seconds
muX= multiply data and errors by X (MUltiply)
mdX= multiply data by X (Multiply Data)
meX= multiply errors by X (Multiply Errors
maX= as muX but exposure is divided by X
diX= divide data and errors by X (DIvide)
ddX= divide data by X (Divide Data)
deX= divide errors by X (Divide Errors)
daX= as diX but exposure is multiplied by X
aaX= add data and errors with X (Add All)
adX= add data with X (Add Data)
aeX= add errors with X (Add Errors)
saX= subtract data and errors with X (Subtract All)
sdX= subtract data with X (Subtract Data)
seX= subtract errors with X (Subtract Errors)
qaX= add to data the square of data muliplied by X and add to errors
the product of data and error multiplied by X
qdX= as above but for data only
qeX= as above but for error only
Below is an example of the Filelist containing 2 files for 3 different times series where the different options are applied to the input files for different time series.
file1_ser1 aa4 add to data and error 4
file2_ser1 aa4 " " " "
///
file1_ser2 rt2 aa2 read 2nd extension; add to data and error 2
file2_ser2 rt2 aa2 " " " " " " "
///
file1_ser3 rt2 vy4 vs5 read 2nd extension; use column 4 and 5 for Y-axis and Error
file2_ser3 rt2 vy4 vs5 " " " " " " " " " "
1. Calculate statistical variables for an input time series with a binning of 100 seconds and a start-stop=5000 seconds in one interval (50 newbin per interval)
> lcstats cfile1="mydata.lc" window="-" dtnb=INDEF nbint=50
2. For an input time series (consisting of several files) with an original binning of 400 seconds and a total length of 6 hours, calculate statistical variables using a newbin of 800 seconds over 2-hour intervals (9 newbin per interval for a total of 3 intervals).
> lcstats cfile1="@all.lis" window="-" dtnb=800 nbint=9
The parameter cfile1 is a file containing the list of filenames for one time series (see "Filelist and Input File Options").
efold, efsearch, crosscor, autocor, powspec, lcurve, listdata, timeskew xronwin, fits2qdp, ascii2lc.
Report problems to angelini@lheavx.gsfc.nasa.gov and xanprob@athena.gsfc.nasa.gov. Provide a detailed description of the problem (with a log file if possible).