guide to fdump, efsearch, and efold

fdump, efsearch, and efold prompts will run in the order they are listed in the table.


The information within brackets [] is either the default value or the last value selected.

Pressing <Enter> without typing anything automatically selects this value.


guide to fdump
At the UNIX prompt, type: fdump

the fdump routine operates on files with extension .flc (created by the lightcurve routine) or .fps (created by the powspec routine)that are located in the same directory;
the fdump routine manipulates the contents of the .flc or .fps directly
Prompt
 Description
 Sample Response
to Prompt  		Information provided after your Response
Name of FITS file and [ext#] [ = ]
 Respond with name of file to analyze.
 c02468.fps
Name of optional output file [ = ]
 Contents can be shown on the standard output or monitor, STDOUT, or be saved in a text file.
 STDOUT
Names of columns [ ]
 By listing column names, separated by spaces, you can limit what data you wish to see.
 Leaving this blank shows all columns.
 FREQUENCY  POWER
Lists of rows [ ]
 You can choose to limit the number of data rows or reveal them all.
 25-100 *shows data between 25 and 100
100-      *shows all data above row 100
-500      *shows all data before row 500
 -           = ; *shows all data
 Various header information precedes the listing of the rows chosen to view.




guide to efsearch
At the UNIX prompt, type:  efsearch

the efsearch routine operates on files with extension .flc (created by the lightcurve routine) that are located in the same directory;
Ser. 1 filename +options (or @file of filenames +options) [ ] Respond with filename of .flc file to be analyzed.

For concatenated files, use the @ symbol before the file name.		 c02468.flc Displays information about the *.lc file, e.g., source name, coordinates, start/stop time,  bin time, etc.
Name of the window file ('-' = for default window) [ ]
 Configuration of window for plotting.  The default window is most commonly = used.  -
Epoch [ ]
 Epoch is the time at which the efold routine starts searching for data. 
The beginning of the observation is most commonly used.  Type INDEF to get the default/ beginning time. 		INDEF
Period [ ]
 Best estimate for the period. 
The best way would be to fdump a power spectrum of the file and search for the frequency of the highest power. The inverse of the frequency is the period.
 10240
Phasebins/Period {value or = neg. power of 2} [ ]
 How many bins should each = period be split into.   Most commonly, the estimated period over bin time.
 1000
 Information on Newbins will = be shown including Maximum Newbin No.
Number of Newbins/Interval [ = ]
 Input number of newbins, commonly the Maximum Newbin No.
 2013
Resolution for period search {value or neg. power of 2} [ ]
 Resolution is the increment between consecutive periods that the program will check, commonly about 1-10% of period.
 100
Number of periods to search [ = ]
 Amount of periods to plot.
 128
Name of output file [ ]
 The default option saves using the same name as the input file except with the .fes extension. default
Do you want to plot your results? [ ]
 Yes displays graph.
 yes
Enter PGPLOT device [ ]
 This is needed to draw the graph on screen.  Most commonly this is /xw or sometimes /xterm. /xw
 plot will show x^2 (chi squared) against possible periods and runs PLT




guide to efold
At the prompt, type:  efold


the efold routine operates on files with extension .flc  (created by the lcurve routine) that are located in the same directory;
the efold routine outputs a .fef file 
Number of time series for this task[ ] A time series is an observation within a FITS file.  Generally will plot only 1.
1
Ser. 1 filename +options (or @file of filenames +options) [ ] Respond with filename of .flc file to be analyzed.

For concatenated files, use the @ symbol before the file name.		 c02468.flc Displays information about the *.lc file, e.g., source name, coordinates, start/stop time,  bin time, etc.
Name of the window file ('-' for default window) [ ] Configuration of window for plotting.  The default window is most commonly used.  -
Epoch
 Epoch is the time at which the efold routine starts searching for data. 
The beginning of the observation is most commonly used.  Type INDEF to get the default/ beginning time.		 INDEF
Period
 Best estimate of the period;
obtained using the efsearch routine.
 11140
Phasebins/Period {value or = neg. power of 2} [ ] How many bins each period be split into.   Most commonly, the estimated period over bin time. 1000
Number of Newbins/Interval [ = ] Input number of newbins, commonly the Maximum Newbin No. 1851
Number of Intervals/Frame
 A frame is the average of the results of analysis of several intervals. 1 provides a sum of the data, whereas a number N averages N number of files in the data set. 1
Name of output file [ ] Saves efold results in an output .fef file.

The default option saves the power spectrum with a filename identical to that used for the input file (.flc) but ending with the .fps extension.
 default
Do you want to plot your results? [ ] "yes" Displays folded data graph. yes
Enter PGPLOT device [ ] Selects device used for drawing the graph on screen.  Most commonly this is /xw or sometimes /xterm.
 /xw
 Displays your folded light curve plot in new window;
xterm window enters PLT> mode.




For PLT> Commands, see
bottom of lcurve guide.