splattotable

splattotable(filenames, table='')[source]

Convert a downloaded Splatalogue spectral line list to a casa table.

[Description] [Examples] [Development] [Details]

Parameters
  • filenames (pathVec) - Files containing Splatalogue lists.

  • table (string=’’) - Output table name. Must be specified.

Description

This task reads one or more spectral line lists downloaded from the Splatalogue spectral line database and loads them into a CASA table. This tablecan then be queried via the slsearch task within CASA.

The downloaded files must be in a specific format for this task to succeed. The columns are the important things; one can filter the results as one desires using Splatalogue, but the particular columns must be present as described below. The columns which must be present in the downloaded file in exactly the following order are:

  • “Species”

  • “NRAO Recommended”

  • “Chemical Name”

  • “Freq in GHz”

  • “Resolved QNs”

  • “CDMS/JPL Intensity”

  • “Sijmu2 (D2)”

  • “Log10 (Aij)”

  • “EL (K)

  • “EU (K)”

  • “Linelist”

In order to get these columns in this order, one should select exactly the following items on the Splatalogue “Advanced” search interface .

  • Under “Specify Ranges” one should select “GHz” for the frequency unit.

  • Under “Line Strength Display” select exactly “CDMS/JPL Intensity”, “Sij mu2”, and “Aij”.

  • Under “Energy Levels”, one should select exactly “Elower (K)” and “Eupper (K)”.

  • Under “Miscellaneous”, one should select exactly “Display Ordered Frequency ONLY” and “Display NRAO Recommended Frequencies”.

One should then initiate the search and on the resulting page, one should select the Tab Field Separator and then export the list. The resulting list should be in the proper format for importing into CASA.

In order to assist the user in selecting the correct fields from the Splatalogue database in the proper format, the Splatalogue webpage has an option to “Export CASA Fields” after a search is conducted. By selecting this option, regardless of how the search was conducted on the webpage, the correct fields in the proper format will be exported for use by splattotable.

Parameter descriptions

filenames

Files containing Splatalogue spectral line lists.

table

Output table name. Must be specfied.

Examples

To write two spectral line lists, ‘mysplatlist1.txt’ and ‘mysplatlist2.txt’, into a single spectral line table ‘mynewsl.tbl’:

splattotable(filenames=['mysplatlist1.txt',mysplatlist2.txt'],
             table='mynewsl.tbl')
Development

No additional development details

Parameter Details

Detailed descriptions of each function parameter

filenames (pathVec) - Files containing Splatalogue lists.
The downloaded files must be in a specific format
for this task to succeed. Fro details, see the splattotable
task pages on CASA Docs
table (string='') - Output table name. Must be specified.