Notes on analyzing data using XSELECT

Overview

The aim of XSELECT is to make standard data product creation simple and uniform across many missions. Currently XSELECT supports ASCA, BBXRT, Chandra, Einstein, EXOSAT, Integral, ROSAT, BeppoSAX, Spectrum-RG, Suzaku, Swift, RXTE, and XMM-Newton. New missions can be added simply by editing an external ascii file, the MDB.

Versions 2.2 and later include the ability to automatically generate responses for extracted spectra. The save spectrum has an argument response which if set to yes will cause the rmf and arf to be generated. If the mission software supports creation of an extended source arf then this can be generated by instead setting response=extend. Response generation is available for ASCA, Chandra ACIS, Einstein IPC, ROSAT, Suzaku, XMM-Newton EPIC, and RXTE PCA.

Chandra and XMM-Newton users should note that the select events command does not at present update the Data Model Subspace keywords so should be avoided if CIAO or SAS routines will be run on any products generated after the selection. Using filter followed by extract (alias bin) does correctly update the relevant keywords so is preferred.

Setting up (local notes for GSFC)

If you are working on Chandra data then you will probably need to set up CIAO using
source /usr1/local/Chandra/ciao/bin/ciao.csh
.

If you are working on XMM-Newton data then you will probably need to set up SAS using
source startxmm.csh
where startxmm.csh is a handy little script you can download and run.

I suggest including aliases to these commands in your .cshrc (I use go_ftools, go_chandra, and go_xmm, respectively).

Notes for individual missions

• ASCA
• BBXRT
• Chandra
• Einstein
• EXOSAT
• ROSAT
• BeppoSAX
• Spectrum-RG
• Suzaku
• RXTE
• XMM-Newton