MARXS: A modular software to ray-trace X-ray instrumention

Abstract

To obtain the best possible scientific result, astronomers must understand the properties of the available instrumentation well. This is important both when designing new instruments and when using existing instruments close to the limits of their specified capabilities or beyond. Ray-tracing is a technique for numerical simulations where the path of many light rays is followed through the system to understand how individual system components influence the observed properties, such as the shape of the point-spread-function (PSF). In instrument design, such simulations can be used to optimize the performance. For observations with existing instruments this helps to discern instrumental artifacts from a true signal. Here, we describe MARXS, a new python package designed to simulate X-ray instruments on satellites and sounding rockets. MARXS uses probability tracking of photons and has polarimetric capabilities.

arXiv comment8 pages, 4 figures (two of which have interactive versions available at external URLs)

References in corpus (12)

• Astropy: A Community Python Package for Astronomy
• The NumPy array: a structure for efficient numerical computation
• Mayavi: a package for 3D visualization of scientific data
• The Chandra High Energy Transmission Grating: Design, Fabrication, Ground Calibration and Five Years in Flight
• Innovations in the Analysis of Chandra-ACIS Observations
• A Massive Young Star-Forming Complex Study in Infrared and X-ray: X-ray Sources in Ten Star Forming Regions
• A Line-Of-Sight Galaxy Cluster Collision: Simulated X-Ray Observations
• Chandra Spectroscopy of MAXI J1305-704: Detection of an Infalling Black Hole Disk Wind?
• Advanced Data Visualization in Astrophysics: the X3D Pathway
• CMB-induced radio quenching of high-redshift jetted AGNs with highly magnetic hotspots
• The X-ray luminous cluster underlying the z = 1.04 quasar PKS1229-021
• Progress toward a Soft X-ray Polarimeter

Cited by in corpus (7)

• The Astropy Project: Building an inclusive, open-science project and status of the v2.0 core package
• The Astropy Project: Sustaining and Growing a Community-oriented Open-source Project and the Latest Major Release (v5.0) of the Core Package
• On the X-ray Spectral Energy Distributions of Star-Forming Galaxies: the 0.3-30 keV Spectrum of the Low-Metallicity Starburst Galaxy VV 114
• The First Candidate Colliding-Wind Binary in M33
• A Small Satellite Version of a Broad-band Soft X-ray Polarimeter
• Lynx grating spectrometer design: Optimizing chirped transmission gratings
• Ray-tracing a small orbital mission for soft-X-ray polarimetry