Next: 7.1 xmmextractor Up: Users Guide to the XMM-Newton Science Analysis System Previous: 6.7.8 Concatenating fast mode timeseries
The purpose of the analysis chain xmmextractor
is to produce high-level science
products from the raw, uncalibrated, data files contained
in the Observation Data File (ODF). While the automatic SOC product pipeline
system (PPS) products can be used for scientific analysis, their calibration
status may not be the most
recent one, and the source extraction parameters are not adjusted to the
particular requirements in an individual observation such as size and
position of the background extraction region or pile up correction.
With a single tool, it is possible to get all relevant science products
for a given observation for all XMM-Newton cameras. The tool operates
via a configuration file in xml format which will always by downward
compatible. Once a new SAS version is released, the same configuration
file can be used to update all science products using the same
configuration file.
The long-term goal is to provide an interactive tool, but at this stage xmmextractor is a task that is still being developed. While basic usage, such an initial default processing of a given ODF with default parameters should work, some of the higher-level options may produce problems with the present version.
A more detailed description is available on the SAS Analysis Threads web page and in the package description of the xmmextractor.