Full release note for ppsprod-12.10 =================================== Pipeline Version: 12.10_20140207_1200 Pipeline Name: ppsprod Release Date: 2014-02-07 SAS Manifest: xmmsas_20121219_1645 Summary ======= This pipeline represents a major change with respect to the previous prod8.4_64 pipeline, embodying both a substantial number of changes to the PCMS processing system itself and incorporation of version 12.0.1 of the SAS (with additional package updates). The most significant changes to the pipeline include: i) Use of an empirical 2D PSF. This PSF provides a much improved description of the polygonal core structures of each of the instrumental PSFs and also the spoke patterns, compared to the previous Medium accuracy PSF - see Read et al., 2011, A&A, 534, 34 (http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2011A%26A...534A..34R) ii) Extraction of source-specific products (SSP) (time-series and spectra) for individual sources is redesigned. Firstly, the size of the (circular) source extraction aperture is now optimized (using eregionanalyse) to yield maximum signal-to-noise - previously a fixed aperture of radius 28" was used. The aperture is restricted to a radius (r) where 12" < r < 40". Secondly, the previous annular background region (60" < r_back < 180", co-centred on the source position) is replaced by a circular region of comparable area but it is now offset from the source so as to ensure there is sufficient background signal in all circumstances. A minimum of 70% useful area is required, except in exceptional circumstances. This, in particular, resolves problems found with negligible background data being available for sources in MOS SW modes in earlier processing. Spectra and time-series are now extracted for all sources whose spectra (source plus background) contain > 100 good counts (cf the original process which demanded > 500 EPIC counts). iii) The background flare filtering now uses a S/N optimization approach and operates on an in-band (0.5-7.5 keV) light-curve from which prominent sources (eboxdetect likelihood > 50) have been masked out. The algorithm discards, in declining order, high count-rate time-bins, computing the S/N of the residual data, to find the cut rate at which the S/N peaks. This can result in significant increases and decreases of usable exposure time. The flare background time-series is now exposure corrected and the file contains the S/N v rate-cut curve. The PDF graphic also shows the S/N v rate-cut curve. iv) Astrometric correction is now performed by the task catcorr. This makes use of a number of enhancements over the previous task, eposcorr. A notable change is its ability to make use of multiple reference catalogues. In the pipeline the task catprep now generates a file that contains upto 3 reference catalogue extracts (SDSS-DR9 where available, USNO B1.0 and 2MASS). Each, where available, is used to determine the field offset correction and the 'best' solution is adopted for the correction if it meets the application criteria. The task also employs an algorithm that takes account of the local density of reference sources and performs fitting to find the solution rather than a grid technique. In principle, use of the 2MASS catalogue allows the process to find solutions in more fields, particularly in the galactic plane, than the previous USNO B1 -only approach. v) A number of astrometry issues have been addressed since 2XMM. In particular, a time-dependent boresight (CCF) is now employed that removes a 1-2" time-dependent pointing variation. This is important in fields that can not be corrected by catcorr. vi) Masks are generated to identify OOT and scattered RGA features from piled-up sources. These masks are used to 1) flag detections centred within the mask and 2) to avoid locating SSP background regions on them. vii) RGS spectra are now computed in wavelength space viii) RGS time-series are generated for the first time. ix) The noisy rows in MOS1 CCD#4 caused by the event on December 11, 2013 are excluded from full processing, as they resulted in a significant number of spurious source detections. The version of SAS being used is a pipeline-specific manifest xmmsas_20121219_1645. This is based on the public SAS release 12.0.1, described at http://xmm.esac.esa.int/sas/current/documentation/releasenotes/xmmsas_12.0.1.shtml. Documentation ============= Documentation for this pipeline can be found at: http://xmm.esac.esa.int/external/pipeline/ and links therein.