EVLA spectral line IRC10216

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This tutorial is under construction. There are several things still to be added 
in addition to overall polish and further annotation:
* screen captures of task inputs
* uvcontsub and continuum imaging
* moment maps
* more about cleaning in general
* multiscale clean

For the time being (until release candidate is built) you want to run this on casapy-test

Overview

This tutorial describes the data reduction for two spectral lines observed toward the AGB star IRC+10216. This Carbon star which is a few times more massive than our sun is nearing the end of its life, and is thought to be in the process of forming a planetary nebula.

In this EVLA OSRO1 mode observation one subband was observed in each of two basebands, the subbands were centered on the HC3N and SiS lines near 36 GHz. The raw data were loaded into CASA with importevla, where zero and shadowed data were flagged. Then the data were "split", so we could average from the native 1 second integrations to 10 seconds, select only antennas with Ka-band receivers, and select only spectral windows (called spw in CASA) with Ka-band data. This produces a significantly smaller dataset for processing.

The post-split averaged data can be downloaded from http://casa.nrao.edu/Data/EVLA/IRC10216/day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx.tar

Information from observing log:
There are no Ka-band receivers on ea11, ea13, ea14, ea16, ea17, ea18, ea26  
Antennas ea10, ea06 are out of the array
Antenna ea12 is newly back
The pointing is often bad on ea15
Antennas ea10, ea12, ea22 do not have good baseline positions

Initial Inspection and Flagging

# In CASA
listobs(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx')

Below we have cut and pasted the most relevant output from the logger.

Fields: 4
  ID   Code Name         RA            Decl           Epoch   SrcId nVis   
  2    D    J0954+1743   09:54:56.8236 +17.43.31.2224 J2000   2     65326  
  3    NONE IRC+10216    09:47:57.3820 +13.16.40.6600 J2000   3     208242 
  5    F    J1229+0203   12:29:06.6997 +02.03.08.5982 J2000   5     10836  
  7    E    J1331+3030   13:31:08.2880 +30.30.32.9589 J2000   7     5814   
   (nVis = Total number of time/baseline visibilities per field) 
Spectral Windows:  (2 unique spectral windows and 1 unique polarization setups)
  SpwID  #Chans Frame Ch1(MHz)    ChanWid(kHz)TotBW(kHz)  Ref(MHz)    Corrs           
  0          64 TOPO  36387.2295  125         8000        36387.2295  RR  RL  LR  LL  
  1          64 TOPO  36304.542   125         8000        36304.542   RR  RL  LR  LL  
Sources: 10
  ID   Name         SpwId RestFreq(MHz)  SysVel(km/s) 
  0    J1008+0730   0     0.03639232     -0.026       
  0    J1008+0730   1     0.03639232     -0.026       
  2    J0954+1743   0     0.03639232     -0.026       
  2    J0954+1743   1     0.03639232     -0.026       
  3    IRC+10216    0     0.03639232     -0.026       
  3    IRC+10216    1     0.03639232     -0.026       
  5    J1229+0203   0     0.03639232     -0.026       
  5    J1229+0203   1     0.03639232     -0.026       
  7    J1331+3030   0     0.03639232     -0.026       
  7    J1331+3030   1     0.03639232     -0.026       
Antennas: 19:
  ID   Name  Station   Diam.    Long.         Lat.         
  0    ea01  W09       25.0 m   -107.37.25.2  +33.53.51.0  
  1    ea02  E02       25.0 m   -107.37.04.4  +33.54.01.1  
  2    ea03  E09       25.0 m   -107.36.45.1  +33.53.53.6  
  3    ea04  W01       25.0 m   -107.37.05.9  +33.54.00.5  
  4    ea05  W08       25.0 m   -107.37.21.6  +33.53.53.0  
  5    ea07  N06       25.0 m   -107.37.06.9  +33.54.10.3  
  6    ea08  N01       25.0 m   -107.37.06.0  +33.54.01.8  
  7    ea09  E06       25.0 m   -107.36.55.6  +33.53.57.7  
  8    ea12  E08       25.0 m   -107.36.48.9  +33.53.55.1  
  9    ea15  W06       25.0 m   -107.37.15.6  +33.53.56.4  
  10   ea19  W04       25.0 m   -107.37.10.8  +33.53.59.1  
  11   ea20  N05       25.0 m   -107.37.06.7  +33.54.08.0  
  12   ea21  E01       25.0 m   -107.37.05.7  +33.53.59.2  
  13   ea22  N04       25.0 m   -107.37.06.5  +33.54.06.1  
  14   ea23  E07       25.0 m   -107.36.52.4  +33.53.56.5  
  15   ea24  W05       25.0 m   -107.37.13.0  +33.53.57.8  
  16   ea25  N02       25.0 m   -107.37.06.2  +33.54.03.5  
  17   ea27  E03       25.0 m   -107.37.02.8  +33.54.00.5  
  18   ea28  N08       25.0 m   -107.37.07.5  +33.54.15.8  
Summary of Observing Strategy
Gain Calibrator: J0954+1743 field id=2
Bandpass Calibrator: J1229+0203   field id=5
Flux Calibrator: J1331+3030 (3C286) field id=7
Target: IRC+10216  field id=3
Ka-band spws = 0,1
Antenna locations from running plotants

Look at a graphical plot of the antenna locations and save hardcopy in case you want it later. This will be useful for picking a reference antenna -- typically a good choice is an antenna close to the center of the array. Unless it shows problems after inspection of the data, we provisionally chose ea02.

Elevation as a function of time (after selecting colorize by field).
# In CASA
plotants(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',figfile='ant_locations.png')

Next lets look at the elevation as a function of time for all sources. Its not the case for these data, but if the elevation is very low (usually at start or end of track, you may want to flag). Also, how near in elevation your flux calibrator is to your target will impact your ultimate absolute flux calibration accuracy. Unfortunately, they are not particularly well-matched for this observation. Something to keep in mind when planning observations. Thus we are strongly dependent on the opacity and gaincurve corrections to get the flux scale right for these data.

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',
       xaxis='time',yaxis='elevation',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60')
Result of plotms after selecting colorize by field
Zooming in and marking region (hatched box)

Next lets look at all the source amplitudes as a function of time.

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',
       xaxis='time',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60')

Select the "Display" tab and colorize by field, and click plot button.


Now zoom in on the region near zero for sources J0954+1743 and IRC+10216. To zoom, select the Zoom tool in lower left corner of plotms gui, then you can left click to draw a box. Look for the low values. Now use the Mark Region and Locate buttons (located along the bottom of gui) to see which antenna it is, since all the "located" baselines are with ea12, this is the responsible antenna.

IMPORTANT NOTES ON PLOTMS:

* When using the locate button it is important to have only selected a modest number 
of points with the mark region tool (see example of marked region in the thumnail), 
otherwise the response will be very slow and possibly hang the tool. 

* Throughout the tutorial, when you are done marking/locate use the Clear Regions 
tool to get rid of the marked box before plotting other things. 

* After flagdata command flagging, you have to force a complete reload of the cache 
to look at the same plot again with the new flags applied. To do this change anything 
in the plotms gui (the colorize parameter, antenna, spw, anything) and hit the 
plot button.

* If the plotms tool does get hung during a plot try clicking the cancel button on the 
load progress gui, and/or if you see a "table locked" message try typing 
clearstat on the CASA command line.

* Occasionally plotms will get into a strange state that you cannot clear from inside. 
We are working on these issues, but for now, when all else fails, exit from casapy and 
restart.  

Now click the unmark region button, and then go back to the zoom button to zoom in further to note exactly what the time range is: 03:41:00~04:10:00

Check the other sideband by changing spw to 1:4~60. You will have to rezoom. If you have trouble click on Mark icon and then back to zoom. In spw=1, ea07 is bad from the beginning until after next pointing run: 03:21:40~04:10:00

In the plotms gui, put !ea07 in the antenna parameter, this removes ea07 from the plot (in CASA selection, ! deselects) allowing you to see that ea12 is also bad during the same time range as for spw 0

We can set up a flagging command to get both bad antennas for the appropriate time/spw

# In CASA
flagdata(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',
         field=['2,3','2,3'],
         spw=['','1'],
         antenna=['ea12','ea07'],
         timerange=['03:41:00~04:10:00','03:21:40~04:10:00'])

Note because timerange is set, the field parameter is not really needed here -- the time range is limited to these fields, but flagdata will run fastest if you put as many constraints as possible.

Now remove the !ea07 from antenna and replot both spw, zooming in to be sure that all obviously low points are gone. Also zoom in and check 3C286, J1229+0203 is already obvious because it is so bright.

Amplitude vs. uv-distance for IRC+10216, both spw (after colorize by spw)

Lets look more closely at IRC+10216

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='3',
       xaxis='time',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0~1:4~60')

Go to the "display" tab and chose colorize by spw. You can see a that there are some noisy high points. But now try

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='3',
       xaxis='uvdist',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0~1:4~60')

Most of the high points on IRC+10216 are due to large scale emission on short baselines, but there is still some noisy stuff -- for a target like this with extended emission its best to wait until later to decide what to do about it. We will not be able to get adequate calibration for antennas that are truly bad (even if they don't stand out here) so these will be obvious later.

Set the Flux Calibrator

# In CASA
setjy(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='7',spw='0',
      modimage='/usr/lib64/casapy/data/nrao/VLA/CalModels/3C286_K.im')
# In CASA
setjy(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='7',spw='1',
      modimage='/usr/lib64/casapy/data/nrao/VLA/CalModels/3C286_K.im')
The logger output for spw=0 is:
setjy	J1331+3030  spwid=  0  [I=1.692, Q=0, U=0, V=0] Jy, (Perley-Taylor 99)
setjy	Using model image /usr/lib64/casapy/data/nrao/VLA/CalModels/3C286_K.im
setjy	The model image's reference pixel is 0.00188929 arcsec from J1331+3030's phase center.
setjy	Scaling model image to I=1.69182 Jy for visibility prediction.

The modimage location is appropriate for running CASA at the AOC. If you are running elsewhere (laptop or Mac), in a terminal type locate 3C286_K.im to find where the models live (the models are always shipped with CASA).

Bandpass

Before doing the bandpass we need to inspect phase and amplitude variations with time and frequency on the bandpass calibrator to decide how best to proceed. We limit the number of antennas to make the plot easier to see. We chose ea02 as it seems like a good candidate for the reference antenna.

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='5',
       xaxis='channel',yaxis='phase',correlation='RR',
       avgtime='1e8',spw='0:4~60',antenna='ea02&ea23')
Phase as a function of channel for ea02 (after colorize by Antenna2, and Custom and upping "Style" to 3.)

The phase variation is modest ~10 degrees. Now expand to all antennas with ea02 and select colorize by Antenna2.

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='5',
       xaxis='channel',yaxis='phase',correlation='RR',
       avgtime='1e8',spw='0:4~60',antenna='ea02')
Phase as a function of time for ea02 (after colorize by Antenna2, and Custom and upping "Style" to 3.)

Go to the "display" tab and chose colorize by antenna2. From this you can see that the phase variation across the bandpass is modest. Next check LL, and spw=1, both correlations. Also check other antennas if you like.

Now look at the phase as a function of time.

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='5',
       xaxis='time',yaxis='phase',correlation='RR',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60',antenna='ea02&ea23')


Expand to all antennas with ea02

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='5',
       xaxis='time',yaxis='phase',correlation='RR',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60',antenna='ea02')

You can see that the phase variations are smooth, but do vary significantly over the 5 minutes of observation -- in most cases by a few 10s of degrees. Zoom in to see this better if you want.

The conclusion from this investigation is that you need to correct the phase variations with time before solving for the bandpass to prevent decorrelation of the vector averaged bandpass solution. Since the phase variation as a function of channel is modest, you can average over several channels to increase the signal to noise of the phase vs. time solution. If the phase variation as a function of channel is larger you may need to use only a few channels to prevent introducing delay-based closure errors as can happen from averaging over non-bandpass corrected channels with large phase variations.


Since the bandpass calibrator is quite strong we do the phase-only solution on the integration time of 10 seconds (solint='int').

Phase only calibration before bandpass. The 4 lines are both polarizations in both spw, unfortunately two of them get the same color green at the moment.
# In CASA
gaincal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='bpphase.gcal',
        field='5',spw='0~1:20~40',
        refant='ea02',calmode='p',solint='int',minsnr=2.0,
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)

Plot the solutions

# In CASA
plotcal(caltable='bpphase.gcal',xaxis='time',yaxis='phase',
        iteration='antenna',subplot=331)

After the first set of plots appear, push the "Next" button on the gui to see the next set of antennas.

Next we can apply this phase solution on the fly while determining the bandpass solutions on the timescale of the bandpass calibrator scan (solint='inf').

Amplitude Bandpass solutions
Phase Bandpass solutions
# In CASA
bandpass(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='bandpass.bcal',field='5',
        refant='ea02',solint='inf',solnorm=T,
        gaintable=['bpphase.gcal'],spwmap=[[]],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)

A few words about solint and combine: the use of solint='inf' in the bandpass call will derive one bandpass solution for the whole J1229+0203 scan. Note that if there had been two observations of the bandpass calibrator (for example), this command would have combined the data from both scans to form one bandpass solution, because the default of the combine parameter is combine='scan'. To solve for one bandpass for each bandpass calibrator scan you would also need to include combine=' ' in the bandpass call. In all calibration tasks, regardless of solint, scan boundaries are only crossed when combine='scan'. Likewise, field (spw) boundaries are only crossed if combine='field' (combine='spw'), the latter two are not generally good ideas for bandpass solutions.

Plot the solutions, amplitude and phase

# In CASA
plotcal(caltable='bandpass.bcal',xaxis='chan',yaxis='amp',
        iteration='antenna',subplot=331)
# In CASA
plotcal(caltable='bandpass.bcal',xaxis='chan',yaxis='phase',
        iteration='antenna',subplot=331)

Note that phases on ea12 look noiser than other antennas. This jitter could indicate bad pointing -- note ea12 had just come back in the array.

This step isn't necessary from a calibration perspective, but if you want to go ahead and check the bandpass calibration on the bandpass calibrator you can run applycal here. In future we hope to plot corrected data on-the-fly without this applycal step. Later applycals will overwrite this one, so no need to worry.

Phase as a function of channel, plotting the corrected data (after colorize by Antenna2, and Custom and upping "Style" to 3.)
applycal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='5',
        gaintable=['bandpass.bcal'],
        spwmap=[[]],gainfield=['5'],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='5',
       xaxis='channel',yaxis='phase',ydatacolumn='corrected',
       correlation='RR',
       avgtime='1e8',spw='0:4~60',antenna='ea02')
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='5',
       xaxis='channel',yaxis='amp',ydatacolumn='corrected',
       correlation='RR',
       avgtime='1e8',spw='0:4~60',antenna='ea02')

Note that the phase and amplitude as a function of channel is very flat now.

Gain Calibration

Now that we have a bandpass solution to apply we can solve for the antenna-based phase and amplitude gain calibration. Since the phase changes on a much shorter timescale than the amplitude, we will solve for them separately. In particular, if the phase changes significantly over a scan time, the amplitude would be decorrelated, if the un-corrected phase were averaged over this timescale. Note that we re-solve for the gain solutions of the bandpass calibrator, so we can derive new solutions that are corrected for the bandpass shape. Since the bandpass calibrator will not be used again, this is not strictly necessary, but is useful to check its calibrated flux density for example.

# In CASA
gaincal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='intphase.gcal',
        field='2,5,7',spw='0~1:4~60',
        refant='ea02',calmode='p',solint='int',minsnr=2.0,
        gaintable=['bandpass.bcal'],spwmap=[[]],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)

Here solint='int' coupled with calmode='p' will derive a single phase solution for each 10 second integration. Note that the bandpass table is applied on-the-fly before solving for the phase solutions, however the bandpass is NOT applied to the data permanently until applycal is run later on.

Plot of phase solutions on an integration time.

Now look at the phase solution, and note the obvious scatter within a scan time.

# In CASA
plotcal(caltable='intphase.gcal',xaxis='time',yaxis='phase',
        iteration='antenna',subplot=331)

Although solint='int' (i.e. the integration time of 10 seconds) is the best choice to apply before for solving for the amplitude solutions, it is not a good idea to use this to apply to the target. This is because the phase-scatter within a scan can dominate the interpolation between calibrator scans. Instead, we also solve for the phase on the scan time, solint='inf' (but combine=' ', since we want one solution per scan) for application to the target later on. Unlike the bandpass task, for gaincal, the default of the combine parameter is combine=' '.

# In CASA
gaincal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='scanphase.gcal',
        field='2,5,7',spw='0~1:4~60',
        refant='ea02',calmode='p',solint='inf',minsnr=2.0,
        gaintable=['bandpass.bcal'],spwmap=[[]],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
Plot of phase solutions on a scan time.
# In CASA
plotcal(caltable='scanphase.gcal',xaxis='time',yaxis='phase',
        iteration='antenna',subplot=331)

Alternatively, one can also run smoothcal to smooth the solutions derived on the integration time.

Next we apply the bandpass and solint='int' phase-only calibration solutions on-the-fly to derive amplitude solutions. Here the use of solint='inf', but combine= will result in one solution per scan interval.

# In CASA
gaincal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='amp.gcal',
        field='2,5,7',spw='0~1:4~60',
        refant='ea02',calmode='ap',solint='inf',minsnr=2.0,
        gaintable=['bandpass.bcal','intphase.gcal'],spwmap=[[],[]],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
]] solutions on a scan time

Now lets look at the resulting phase solutions, since we have taken out the phase as best we can by applying the solint='int' phase-only solution this plot will give a good idea of the residual phase error. If you see scatter of more than a few degrees here, you should consider going back and looking for more data to flag, particularly bad timeranges etc.

# In CASA       
plotcal(caltable='amp.gcal',xaxis='time',yaxis='phase',
        iteration='antenna',subplot=331)

Indeed, both antenna ea12 (all times) and ea23 (first 1/3 of observation) show particularly large residual phase noise.

Plot of amplitude solutions on a scan time
# In CASA
plotcal(caltable='amp.gcal',xaxis='time',yaxis='amp',
        iteration='antenna',subplot=331)

Note that the amplitude solutions for ea12 are very low, this is another indication that this antenna is dubious.

Next we use the flux calibrator (whose flux density was set in the Setjy step above) to derive the flux of the other calibrators. Note that the flux table REPLACES the amp.gcal in terms of future application of the calibration to the data, i.e. the flux table contains both the amp.gcal and flux scaling, unlike the gain calibration steps, this is not an incremental table.

# In CASA
fluxscale(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='amp.gcal',
          fluxtable='flux.cal',reference='7')

It is a good idea to note down for your records the derived flux densities

Flux density for J0954+1743 in SpW=0# is: 0.267699 +/- 0.00103786 (SNR = 257.934, nAnt= 19)
Flux density for J0954+1743 in SpW=1# is: 0.279468 +/- 0.000735923 (SNR = 379.752, nAnt= 19)
Flux density for J1229+0203 in SpW=0# is: 30.5454 +/- 0 (SNR = inf, nAnt= 19)
Flux density for J1229+0203 in SpW=1# is: 30.2306 +/- 0 (SNR = inf, nAnt= 19)

Check that the flux.cal table looks as expected.

Plot of flux corrected amplitude solutions.
# In CASA
plotcal(caltable='flux.cal',xaxis='time',yaxis='amp',
        iteration='antenna',subplot=331)

Applycal and Inspect

Now we apply the calibration to each source, according to which tables are appropriate, and which source should be used to do that particular calibration. For the calibrators, all bandpass solutions come from the bandpass calibrator (id=5), and the phase and amplitude calibration comes from themselves.

# In CASA
applycal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='2',
        gaintable=['bandpass.bcal','intphase.gcal','flux.cal'],
        spwmap=[[],[],[]],gainfield=['5','2','2'],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
# In CASA
applycal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='5',
        gaintable=['bandpass.bcal','intphase.gcal','flux.cal'],
        spwmap=[[],[],[]],gainfield=['5','5','5'],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
# In CASA
applycal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='7',
        gaintable=['bandpass.bcal','intphase.gcal','flux.cal'],
        spwmap=[[],[],[]],gainfield=['5','7','7'],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)

For the target we apply the bandpass from id=5, and the calibration from the gain calibrator (id=2)

# In CASA
applycal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='3',
        gaintable=['bandpass.bcal','scanphase.gcal','flux.cal'],
        spwmap=[[],[],[]],gainfield=['5','2','2'],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)

Now inspect the corrected data

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='5',ydatacolumn='corrected',
       xaxis='time',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60',antenna='')

This plot shows some data deviating from the average amplitudes. Use methods described above to Mark region for few number of deviant data points and locate. You will find that ea12 is responsible.

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='2',ydatacolumn='corrected',
       xaxis='time',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60',antenna='')

Here we see some problems, with high points. Do some mark regions and locate in plotms to find out which antennas, which spws. Pay special attention to antennas that have been called out already as showing some dubious behavior.

What you find is that ea07 which we flagged spw=1 above, is also bad for the same timerange in spw=0. This was not obvious in the raw data, because spw=0 was adjusted in the on-line system by a gain attenuator, while spw=1 wasn't. So a lack of power on this antenna can look like very low (and obvious) amplitudes in spw=1 but not for spw=0. Looking carefully you'll see that ea07 is actually pretty noisy throughout.

Plot of antenna ea12 by itself
Plot of antenna ea23 by itself

From the locate we also find that ea12 and ea23 show some high points, replot them alone

plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='2',ydatacolumn='corrected',
       xaxis='time',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60',antenna='ea12')
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='2',ydatacolumn='corrected',
       xaxis='time',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60',antenna='ea23')

ea12 needs to be flagged completely its just a bit noisy all around and ea23 is pretty noisy during the first scans between initial and second pointing. Recall that these are antennas we became suspicious of while inspecting the calibration solutions.

IRC+12216 as a function of uv-distance (after colorize by Antenna2).

Now lets see how the target looks. Because the target has resolved structure, its best to look at it as a function of uvdistance. We'll go ahead and exclude the three antennas we already know have problems.

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='3',ydatacolumn='corrected',
       xaxis='uvdist',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60',antenna='!ea07;!ea12;!ea23')

in "display" tab chose colorize by antenna2, here you will see that the spikes are caused by a single antenna. Use, zoom, mark, and locate to see which one. Also look at spw=1.

Turns out to be ea28, to confirm, replot with antenna=!ea28, and

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='3',ydatacolumn='corrected',
       xaxis='uvdist',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60',antenna='!ea07;!ea12;!ea23;!ea28')

To see if its restricted to a certain time

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='3',ydatacolumn='corrected',
       xaxis='time',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60',antenna='ea28')


Its got issues until 2/3 through. Plot another distant antenna to compare. We will go ahead and flag it all, since its hanging far out on the north arm by itself.

Now the additional data we've identified as bad need to be flagged and then all the calibration steps run again.

# In CASA
flagdata(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',
         field=['',''],
         spw=['',''],
         antenna=['ea07,ea12,ea28','ea07,ea23'],
         timerange=['','03:21:40~04:10:00'])

Redo Calibration after more Flagging

Below we repeat the calibration steps above, appending _redo to the table names, in case we want to compare with previous versions, its best not to remove and overwrite them.

# In CASA
gaincal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='bpphase_redo.gcal',
        field='5',spw='0~1:20~40',
        refant='ea02',calmode='p',solint='int',minsnr=2.0,
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
# In CASA
bandpass(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='bandpass_redo.bcal',
        field='5',
        refant='ea02',solint='inf',solnorm=T,
        gaintable=['bpphase_redo.gcal'],spwmap=[[]],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
# In CASA
gaincal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='intphase_redo.gcal',
        field='2,5,7',spw='0~1:4~60',
        refant='ea02',calmode='p',solint='int',minsnr=2.0,
        gaintable=['bandpass_redo.bcal'],spwmap=[[]],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
# In CASA
gaincal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='scanphase_redo.gcal',
        field='2,5,7',spw='0~1:4~60',
        refant='ea02',calmode='p',solint='inf',minsnr=2.0,
        gaintable=['bandpass_redo.bcal'],spwmap=[[]],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
# In CASA
gaincal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='amp_redo.gcal',
        field='2,5,7',spw='0~1:4~60',
        refant='ea02',calmode='ap',solint='inf',minsnr=2.0,
        gaintable=['bandpass_redo.bcal','intphase_redo.gcal'],
        spwmap=[[],[]],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
# In CASA      
fluxscale(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',caltable='amp_redo.gcal',
          fluxtable='flux_redo.cal',reference='7')
Flux density for J0954+1743 in SpW=0 is: 0.279304 +/- 0.00114727 (SNR = 243.452, nAnt= 16)
Flux density for J0954+1743 in SpW=1 is: 0.287039 +/- 0.00107576 (SNR = 266.824, nAnt= 16)
Flux density for J1229+0203 in SpW=0 is: 30.5932 +/- 0 (SNR = inf, nAnt= 16)
Flux density for J1229+0203 in SpW=1 is: 30.2475 +/- 0 (SNR = inf, nAnt= 16)

Feel free to pause here and remake the calibration solution plots from above, just be sure to put in the revised table names.

Redo Applycal and Inspect

# In CASA
applycal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='2',
        gaintable=['bandpass_redo.bcal','intphase_redo.gcal','flux_redo.cal'],
        spwmap=[[],[],[]],gainfield=['5','2','2'],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
# In CASA
applycal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='5',
        gaintable=['bandpass_redo.bcal','intphase_redo.gcal','flux_redo.cal'],
        spwmap=[[],[],[]],gainfield=['5','5','5'],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
# In CASA
applycal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='7',
        gaintable=['bandpass_redo.bcal','intphase_redo.gcal','flux_redo.cal'],
        spwmap=[[],[],[]],gainfield=['5','7','7'],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)
Gain calibrator after further flagging and recalibration
# In CASA
applycal(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='3',
        gaintable=['bandpass_redo.bcal','scanphase_redo.gcal','flux_redo.cal'],
        spwmap=[[],[],[]],gainfield=['5','2','2'],
        opacity=0.03,gaincurve=T)

Now you can inspect the calibrated data again. Except for random scatter things look pretty good.

IRC+10216 after further flagging and recalibration (after selecting colorize by spw).
# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='2',ydatacolumn='corrected',
       xaxis='time',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0:4~60',antenna='')

Lets check the target again, looking at both spws, and selecting "Display" colorize by spw.

# In CASA
plotms(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',field='3',ydatacolumn='corrected',
       xaxis='uvdist',yaxis='amp',correlation='RR,LL',
       avgchannel='64',spw='0~1:4~60',antenna='')

Split

Now we split the data into individual files. This is not strictly necessary, as you can select the appropriate fields in later clean stages, but it is safer in case for example you get confused with later processing and want to fall back to this point (this is especially a good idea if you plan to do continuum subtraction or self calibration later on). It also makes smaller individual files in case you want to copy to another machine, colleague what have you.

# In CASA
split(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',outputvis='day2_J0954',
      field='2')
# In CASA
split(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',outputvis='day2_IRC10216',
      field='3')
# In CASA
split(vis='day2_TDEM0003_10s_norx',outputvis='day2_3C286',
      field='7')

Deconvolve and Clean

Here we make images from the calibrated data. Because the spectral line emission from IRC+10216 has significant extended emission, it is very important to run clean interactively, and make a clean mask.

The viewer "wrench" gui for changing viewer parameters, like the colormap
# In CASA
clean(vis='day2_IRC10216',imagename='day2_IRC10216_HC3N.cube_r0.5',
      imagermode='csclean',
      imsize=300,cell=['0.4arcsec'],spw='0:5~58',
      mode='velocity',interpolation='linear',
      restfreq='36.39232GHz',outframe='LSRK',
      weighting='briggs',robust=0.5,
      mask='',      
      interactive=T,threshold='3.0mJy',niter=100000)

It will take a little while before the cube is ready to be displayed. When the viewer first pops up with the dirty image, you will see a default colormap of "hot metal 2". Personally, I prefer "rainbow 2" but you are free to use whatever you like. To change this and many other viewer parameters, click on the "wrench" tool at the top of the viewer gui.

Interactive viewer with polygon tool, "All channels" selected" and mask drawn on channel 28.

After selecting the colormap you want, use the "tape deck" at the bottom of the Viewer display gui to step through to the channel with the most extended (in angular size) emission, select "all channels" for the clean mask, select the polygon tool (second in from the right) and make a single mask that applies to all channels (see example in thumbnail). Once you make the polygon region, you need to double click inside it to save the mask region -- if you see the polygon turn white you will know you succeeded. Note, that if you had the time and patience you could make a clean mask for each channel -- this would create a slightly better result.

After making the mask you should check that the emission in all the other channels fits within the mask you made using the "tape deck" to move back and forth. If you need to include more area in the mask, you can chose the "erase" toggle at the top, and then encircle your existing mask with a polygon and double click inside. Then go back to "add" toggle at top and make a new mask. Alternatively, you can erase a part of the mask, or you can add to the existing mask by drawing new polygons. Feel free to experiment with this a bit.

To continue with clean use the "Next action" buttons in the green area on the Viewer Display gui: The red x will stop clean where you are, the blue arrow will stop the interactive part of clean, but continue to clean non-interactively until reaching the stopping niter or threshold which ever comes first, the green arrow will clean until it reaches the "iterations" parameter on the left side of the green area.

Keep cleaning, by using the green Next Action arrow until the residual displayed in the viewer looks "noise like". To speed things up, you might change the iteration parameter in the viewer to something like 300. This parameter can also be set in the task command. You will notice that in this particular case, there are residuals that cannot be cleaned -- these are due to the extended resolved out structure on size scales larger than the array is sensitive to (i.e. "Largest Angular Scale" or LAS the array is sensitive to can be calculated from the shortest baseline length). Later in the tutorial we describe how to do a better job with extended sources.

Repeat the process for the SiS line using the call below, note that the emission for this line is less extended than the HC3N -- this has to do with the different excitation requirements of the two different lines. The SiS is excited closer to the central star than the HC3N.

# In CASA
clean(vis='day2_IRC10216',imagename='day2_IRC10216_SiS.cube_r0.5',
      imagermode='csclean',
      imsize=300,cell=['0.4arcsec'],spw='1:5~58',
      mode='velocity',interpolation='linear',
      restfreq='36.30963GHz',outframe='LSRK',
      weighting='briggs',robust=0.5,
      mask='',            
      interactive=T,threshold='3.0mJy',niter=100000)

Channel maps of HC3N after cleaning.


In the near future we will add multiscale clean. This dramatically improves the cleaning, but a few tweaks are needed to CASA before its usable. Below is a one channel example.

Channel 15 (left) Ordinary clean; (Right) Multiscale

Cbrogan 20:08, 12 May 2010 (UTC)