ASPCS
 
Back to Volume
Paper: Advanced Science Analysis Package and the prototype DALIA
Volume: 351, Astronomical Data Analysis Software and Systems XV
Page: 577
Authors: Boone, F.; Muders, D.; Schilke, P.; Comito, C.; Leurini, S.; Parise, B.; van der Tak, F.; Menten, K.M.
Abstract: The ASAP project aims at providing a new generation of scientific analysis tools to extract physical information from high dynamical range data of current and future instruments. It was motivated by the ALMA project but the concepts and their implementations are applicable to all wavelengths. This contribution is focused on DALIA (Direct Approach to spectral Line Analysis), a prototype forward modeling package. A general framework was developed to allow fitting of any kind of model to observations. The models are stored as binaries and are described by XML files according to a schema. New models developed in any language can be added to the model database by the user. The different steps of the fit (simulation, evaluation, parameter change) can be executed manually or automatically through an optimization engine. The interface allows the user to have direct control on the model parameters which can be fixed or constrained. The data to be modeled can be of any type (1D, 2D, 3D, spectral, spatial, temporal...) and associations of datasets of different types are supported as long as the axes are identical to those of the model output. In this prototype only FITS format is supported. For spectral synthesis, the spectroscopic data from the molecular databases (Cologne, JPL) are used. This generic approach is based on concepts similar to those of the Virtual Observatory. Its integration into the VO would allow astronomers to store model solutions for each source. The theoretical knowledge of the sources would then be shared at the same level as the data and would be continuously updated with new observations.
Back to Volume