Overview
XAssist is a NASA AISRP funded project (NAG 5-809) to automate X-ray
astrophysics analysis.
The intended audience is X-ray astronomers who want assistance with large
projects and non-experts simply wanting X-ray data points for spectral energy
distribution diagrams, proposals, etc. without wanting to learn X-ray analysis
simply for that purpose. Initial emphasis will be on ASCA and
ROSAT data, but support for Chandra and XMM-Newton has
been a consideration from the beginning of the project. A quick-look system
will be available for simple analysis of the image already archived along with
the raw data sets of the supported telescopes, as well as inclusion of catalog
data (such as the ROSAT All-Sky Survey detections). In addition,
detailed analysis of individual sources or fields can be requested as a batch
job and a download will be available to run on the users' systems.
Goals
1. Automatic (and rapid) analysis of quick-look images provided in data
archives
2. Automatic reduction of requested fields (or all fields associated with
a requested source)
3. Detection of sources and automated (prelimenary) spectral, spatial,
and rudementary temporal analysis of sources
4. Uniform interface to instrument simulators for ASCA, ROSAT, Chandra, and XMM
for use in testing of the system and PSF generation.
5. Quick-look analysis to be available for WWW usage, main system
available via WWW for small batch jobs or for
download
6. Modular design to allow components to be downloaded individually
(e.g., the spatial fitting program
ximgfit)
and so that components can inter-operate, e.g., feeding fit results
from ASCA and ROSAT to
a simulator for Chandra or XMM to aid in proposals.
History
To be completed.
Personnel
Dr. Andy Ptak (PI)
Prof. Richard Griffiths
(co-I)
Past Student Workers
Roman Stanchak (CS),
Joshua Hellhake (Physics),
Eric Leese (CS), Emily Wheelock (EE), Landon Fears (CS), Josh Beacom
(Physics), Mike Folks (Physics), Jonathan Foster (Physics),