Frequency Switched KFPA Pipeline Use Case
Figure 1: JCMT 850 um infrared image of Ophiucus, showing regions images B, C and D imaged with the GBT by Friesen et al 2009.
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The KFPA pipeline development is oriented towards producing images for a few standard observing modes.
We take as a starting goal for the KFPA pipeline the ability to perform the single dish GBT mapping operations described in a paper by
Friesen, Di Francesco, Shirley and Myers 2009, Ap. J. 697, 1457
Their paper describes observations of three star forming cores (B, C and D) in Ophiuchus. The paper
describes combined VLA, ATCA and GBT observations. The processing steps for the
GBT observations in this paper are the first set of requirements for the KFPA pipeline.
We are not concerned with the interferometer imaging here.
In this document, we clarify the observing and data processing aspects of the paper which
are relevant to the pipeline. We take as the first two goals for the pipeline system:
- Reproduction of the GBT images using the Frequency Switched (FS) mode described in the paper.
- Processing of the observations in Position Switched (PS) mode for comparison of the mapping results.
After completing the initial checkout of the KFPA, one of the first mapping targets for imaging
and pipeline commissioning will be mapping the entire Ophiucus region shown in Figure 1.
GBT Observations
Certain observations must be performed for the GBT pipeline reduction to be successful. This section
summarizes the observing requirement for frequency switched observations. We also note some optional
actions performed if additional observations are made in conjunction with the observations.
Friesen et al made their observations as part of GBT project 06A_065. Their observations
were carried out over 12 epochs, from 2006 April 9 to 2006 November 3.
An ascii summary of these observations is available at this
link.
The following text is directly from the Friesen et al (2009 Ap. J. 697, 1457) article:
The Ophiucus observations were done in frequency-switching mode, using
the GBT K-band (upper) receiver as the front end, and the
GBT spectrometer as the back end. This setup allowed the
simultaneous observation of all lines in four 50 MHz-wide IFs,
each with 8192 spectral channels, giving a frequency resolution
of 6.104 kHz, or 0.077 km s−1 at 23.694 GHz.
The data were taken using the GBTs on-the-fly (OTF) mapping
mode, using in-band frequency switching with a throw of
4 MHz. In OTF mode, a map is created by having the telescope
scan across the target in right ascension (R.A.) at a fixed declination
(decl.), or in decl. at a fixed R.A., writing data at a
predetermined integration interval. The maps of Oph B1 and B2
were made while scanning only in R.A. at a fixed decl., while
for subsequent targets (Oph B3, C, and F) the scanning mode
was alternated to avoid artificial striping in the final data cubes.
No striping, however, is apparent in the final B1 or B2 images.
At the observing frequency of 23 GHz, the telescope beam was
approximately 32" FWHM. Subsequent rows or columns were
spaced by 13" in decl. or R.A. to ensure Nyquist sampling. Scan
times were determined to ensure either one or two full maps
of the observed region could be made between pointing observations.
For all observations, pointing updates were performed on
the point source calibrator 1622-254 every 4560 minutes, with
corrections approximately 2" to 3". The average telescope aperture
efficiency ηA and main beam efficiency ηmb were 0.59±0.05
and 0.78 ± 0.06 respectively, determined through observations
of 3C286 at the start of each shift. The absolute flux accuracy is
thus ∼ 8%. The average elevation of Ophiuchus for all observations
was approximately 26◦.
For their observations, the
system temperatures (Tsys) varied between 48 K and 92 K
over the observation dates with an average Tsys ∼ 62 K.
Figure 2:
(a) Spectra of all species observed at the GBT at the integrated intensity C2S (2110) peak in Oph B1. The NH3 (1,1) and (2,2) and C2S baselines are offset
from 0 for clarity. (b) Spectra of all species observed at the GBT at the integrated intensity C2S (2110) peak in Oph C. The NH3 (1,1) and (2,2) and C2S baselines
are offset for clarity. Figure is from Friesen et al 2009.
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Tables 1 & 2:
Observing frequencies and mapped regions for the Ophiucus project.
Tables are from Friesen et al 2009.
Note that the GBT KFPA will use a different observing mode, 200 MHz signal band
observations, not four 50 MHz bands centered on different lines.
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As noted above, the observations were carried out in 12 separate sessions (epochs). Below the observing sequence
for a single epoch is reviewed, and the relationship between these scans and the pipeline is identified.
Table 3 shows a scan summary of the observing session AGBT06A_065_05, performed on 2006 April 28 from 5:30 to 8:30 UTC.
Start Stop Source Proc. N Scans RA (J2000) Dec Ints. BW. Backend Date+Time Pipeline Note
1 2 3C286 OnOff 2 13h31m07 30d31'04 6 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_05:42:26 Discarded
3 6 3C286 Peak 4 13h31m08 30d30'33 591 1280.0 DCR 2006_04_28_05:44:30 Discarded
7 7 3C286 FocusSubreflec 1 13h31m08 30d30'33 299 1280.0 DCR 2006_04_28_05:46:56 Discarded
8 9 3C286 OnOff 2 13h31m07 30d31'07 6 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_05:50:41 Discarded
10 11 3C286 OnOff 2 13h31m07 30d31'08 6 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_05:53:07 Reference Scan
12 15 1625-254 Peak 4 16h25m47 -25d27'38 592 1280.0 DCR 2006_04_28_05:57:55 Discarded
16 16 1625-254 FocusSubreflec 1 16h25m47 -25d27'38 298 1280.0 DCR 2006_04_28_06:00:17 Discarded
17 18 1625-254 OnOff 2 16h25m39 -25d28'09 6 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_06:03:39 Off for PS Test
19 37 OphB2 RALongMap 19 16h27m29 -24d25'06 475 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_06:06:57 Imaged
38 56 OphB2 RALongMap 19 16h27m29 -24d25'06 475 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_06:37:53 Imaged
57 60 1625-254 Peak 4 16h25m47 -25d27'38 590 1280.0 DCR 2006_04_28_07:08:12 Discarded
61 61 1625-254 FocusSubreflec 1 16h25m47 -25d27'38 298 1280.0 DCR 2006_04_28_07:10:43 Discarded
62 63 1625-254 OnOff 2 16h25m39 -25d27'41 6 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_07:14:17 Off for PS Test
64 82 OphB2 RALongMap 19 16h27m29 -24d25'06 475 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_07:17:45 Imaged
83 101 OphB2 RALongMap 19 16h27m29 -24d25'06 475 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_07:49:28 Imaged
102 105 1625-254 Peak 4 16h25m47 -25d27'38 591 1280.0 DCR 2006_04_28_08:19:49 Discarded
106 106 1625-254 FocusSubreflec 1 16h25m47 -25d27'38 299 1280.0 DCR 2006_04_28_08:22:17 Discarded
107 108 1625-254 OnOff 2 16h25m39 -25d27'11 6 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_08:25:44 Off for PS test
109 127 OphB2 RALongMap 19 16h27m29 -24d25'06 475 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_08:29:10 Imaged
128 128 OphAN6 Track 1 16h26m32 -24d24'52 30 50.0 ACS 2006_04_28_08:59:04 Discarded
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Table 3: Review of an observing session (epoch) and the scans used for pipeline processing.
Note that many scans are discarded in the Pipeline process.
The pipeline scans can be brought into GBTIDL using the following command:
sdfits -scans=10,11,17:56,62:101,107:127 -backends=acs /home/archive/science-data/tape-0017/AGBT06A_065_05
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Review of Table 3 brings up a number of important points concerning the observing schedule and associated
processing.
- The pipeline will not process continuum pointing and focus observations, which are processed by ASTRID
- The pipeline will discard unidentified scans in the observing session.
- Un-identified scans will not halt pipeline processing.
- The pipeline should be capable of processing and applying "SCAL" observations
- Normally the pipeline calibration will use previously "blessed" SCAL observations, were the noise diode effective temperatures are based on previously observed and checked observations of a radio source of known brightness. The SCAL observations are described pipeline SCAL page.
- If SCAL observations are scheduled by the observer, they will be used in the data reduction process.
- The SCAL processing is not a part of the PIPELINE project, but the SCAL project should produce a modular set of calibration
procedures that can be added to later versions of the PIPEPLINE.
- In the example above, spectral line observations of the point/focus source could be used to monitor the variation in the weather. This is not the pipeline standard. The pipeline method for monitoring weather variations is described in the pipeline weather page.
- Spectrometer Frequency Switched (FS) observations are actually pairs of (unswitched) spectral line observations with different center frequencies.
- If consistent Off source spectra are available (as in this case) the observations can also be reduced in Position Switched mode, for comparison.
These observations will also be reduced in PS mode during the pipeline validation, to perform a consistency check between the two methods.
Calibration Steps
This document describes the sequence of standard calibration steps to be applied to pipeline data.
This document does not describe each individual step in detail. The calibration documentation
is the responsibility of a separate GBT development project.
The reference for GBTIDL calibration is online: http://www.gb.nrao.edu/GBT/DA/gbtidl/gbtidl_calibration.pdf
However this document needs some updating and revision.
One general point of difference between the current GBTIDL calibration and the pipeline
calibration is the use of vector values for the calibration noise diode as a function of
frequency. Also the pipeline will use/compute vectors for atmospheric opacity and system temperature
as a function of frequency.
Reference Calculations
Tsys Calculations
(Signal - Reference')/Reference''
Imaging Steps
Friesen et al. (2009) summarize the imaging process, below:
Initial data reduction and calibration were done using the
GBTIDL package. Zenith opacity values for each night were
obtained using a local weather model, and the measured main
beam efficiency was used to convert the data to units of main
beam temperature, TMB. The two parts of the in-band frequency
switched data were aligned and averaged, weighted by the
inverse square of their individual Tsys. The data were then
converted to AIPS SDFITS format using the GBT local utility
idlToSdfits (written by Glen Langston).
In AIPS, the data were combined and gridded using
the DBCON and SDGRD procedures. Finally, the data cubes
were written to FITS files using FITTP.
We next discuss in detail the requirements for the pipeline calibration.
Figure 3: GBT images of Ophiucus C, showing NH3 (1-1), NH3 (2-2), C2S and HC5N emission.
Image from Friesen et al 2009.
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-- GlenLangston - 2009-08-09