XMM-Newton Data Files Handbook

5.1 The Calibration Index File

In order to make use of calibration files during the data analysis, the information of relevant calibration files and the location of the directory holding the calibration files has to be provided.

The Calibration Index File (CIF) provides this information for a given observation. This file is provided as part of the pipeline products. Moreover, it can be rebuilt during any SAS session through the cifbuild SAS task, specifying the observation date, the analysis date and the directory where the CCF are located (cf. [10]).

The CIF is a single binary table with the columns specified in Table 28. A CIF can also be generated based on the content of the XMM_CALINDEX File. This file contains a list of all CCF constituents released from the start of the mission until the date specified in the SUBDATE column.

Table 28: CIF binary extension columns

Name	Type$^a$	Description
TELESCOP	4A	XMM
SCOPE	6A	see Table 29
TYPEID	32A	Calibration file type
ISSUE	1I	Sequential number
VALDATE	19A	Validity date (start)
VALDATE-END	19A	Validity date (end)
FNAME	256A	File name
DATE	19A	Creation date
FSIZE	1J	File size (in bytes)
SUBDATE	19A	Submission date
EXTSEQU	32A	Extension sequence
EXTSEQID	256A	Extension sequence identifier
MD5	32A	MD5 digital signature
CREATOR	64A	File creator

$^a$See Sect. 9 for convention