; IMAGR ;--------------------------------------------------------------- ;! Wide-field and/or wide-frequency Cleaning / imaging task. ;# TASK AP IMAGING OOP CALIBRATION INTERACTIVE TV-APPL ;----------------------------------------------------------------------- ;; Copyright (C) 1995-2008 ;; Associated Universities, Inc. Washington DC, USA. ;; ;; This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or ;; modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as ;; published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of ;; the License, or (at your option) any later version. ;; ;; This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, ;; but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of ;; MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the ;; GNU General Public License for more details. ;; ;; You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public ;; License along with this program; if not, write to the Free ;; Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Massachusetts Ave, Cambridge, ;; MA 02139, USA. ;; ;; Correspondence concerning AIPS should be addressed as follows: ;; Internet email: aipsmail@nrao.edu. ;; Postal address: AIPS Project Office ;; National Radio Astronomy Observatory ;; 520 Edgemont Road ;; Charlottesville, VA 22903-2475 USA ;----------------------------------------------------------------------- IMAGR LLLLLLLLLLLLUUUUUUUUUUUU CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC IMAGR: Wide field imaging/Clean task INNAME Input UV data (name) INCLASS Input UV data (class) INSEQ Input UV data (seq. #) INDISK Input UV data disk drive # SOURCES Source name QUAL -10.0 Calibrator qualifier -1=>all CALCODE Calibrator code ' '=>all TIMERANG Time range to use SELBAND Bandwidth to select (kHz) SELFREQ Frequency to select (MHz) FREQID Freq. ID to select. SUBARRAY 0.0 1000.0 Sub-array, 0=>all ANTENNAS Antennas to plot BASELINE Baselines with ANTENNAS DOCALIB -1.0 101.0 > 0 calibrate data & weights > 99 do NOT calibrate weights GAINUSE CL (or SN) table to apply DOPOL -1.0 10.0 If >0.5 correct polarization. BLVER BL table to apply. FLAGVER Flag table version DOBAND -1.0 10.0 If >0.5 apply bandpass cal. Method used depends on value of DOBAND (see HELP file). BPVER Bandpass table version SMOOTH Smoothing function. See HELP SMOOTH for details. STOKES Stokes parameters (see HELP) BCHAN 0.0 8192.0 Low freq. channel 0 for cont. ECHAN 0.0 8192.0 Highest freq channel CHANNEL Restart channel number NCHAV Number of chan. to average. CHINC Channel incr. between maps. BIF First IF in average. EIF Last IF in average. OUTNAME Output image name (name) OUTDISK Output image disk drive # OUTSEQ -1.0 9999.0 Output seq. no. OUTVER CC ver. no (Continuum only) *** SET OUTVER ON RESTARTS IN2NAME UV work file name IN2CLASS UV work file class IN2SEQ 0.0 UV work file seq *** SET TO KEEP WORK FILE IN2DISK UV work file disk CELLSIZE 1.E-12 (X,Y) size of grid in asec IMSIZE 0.0 8192. Minimum image size NFIELD 0. 4096. Number of fields (max 4096) DO3DIMAG -1.0 1. > 0 => use different tangent points for each field FLDSIZE -1. 8192. Clean size of each field. RASHIFT RA shift per field (asec) DECSHIFT DEC shift per field (asec) UVTAPER 0. (U,V) Gaussian taper units are kilo-lambda UVRANGE 0. Min & max baseline (klambda) GUARD -1.0 0.9 x,y guard band fractional radius ROTATE Rotate image CCW from N by ROTATE degrees ZEROSP 0-spacing fluxes and weights SEE HELP!! UVWTFN UV dist. weight function UVSIZE 0. Array size for doing uniform weights. 0 -> actual field size. ROBUST Robustness power: -5 -> pure uniform weights, 5 => natural UVBOX 0. 128. Additional rows and columns used in weighting. UVBXFN Box function type when UVBOX > 0. 0 -> 1 round pill box. XTYPE 0. 10. Conv. function type in x default spheroidal YTYPE 0. 10. Conv. function type in y default spheroidal XPARM Conv. function parms for x YPARM Conv. function parms for y NITER * 0.0 Maximum # of Clean components BCOMP Begin at BCOMP component Specify for each field. ALLOKAY -1.0 2.0 For restart: > 0 => beams okay, > 1 => work file too NBOXES 0.0 50.0 Number of boxes for Clean NB: field 1 only. CLBOX -2.0 8192.0 Four coordinates for each box BOXFILE Input file of field params and Clean boxes; ' ' => use FLDSIZE, RASHIFT, DECSHIFT, NBOXES, CLBOX only. OBOXFILE * Output file for final Clean boxes GAIN * 0.0 2.0 Clean loop gain FLUX * Minimum Clean component (Jy) MINPATCH * 0.0 Min. BEAM half-width in AP. BMAJ * -999.9 FWHM(asec) major axis Clean * restoring beam. BMIN * -999.9 FWHM(asec) minor axis Clean * restoring beam. BPA * -360.0 360.0 Clean beam position angle OVERLAP -1.0 1 => restore components to overlapped fields, >=2=> expect overlaps in Cleaning PHAT 0.0 999.0 Prussian hat height. FACTOR * -5.0 5.0 Speedup factor see HELP CMETHOD * Modeling method: * 'DFT','GRID',' ' IMAGRPRM Task enrichment parameters (1) Antenna diameter (m) (2) Source Spectral index (3) Frequency scaling factor (4) > 0 -> SDI Clean factor (5) >0 => scale residuals (6) Half-width in x of box (7) Half-width in y of box (8) Filter components whose neighborhood is weaker than IMAGRPRM(8) Jy. 0 -> don't (9) Radius in pixels for the IMAGRPRM(8) test. (10) multiplier of image size to get beam size: 0 => 2; 2, 1, 0.5 0.25 supported (11-16) Multi-scale controls (17) spectral index radius 0 -> no correction (19) Dynamic range limit (20) Retry factor (see help) IMAGRPRM ? Task enrichment parameters ? (1) Antenna diameter (m) ? (4) > 0 -> SDI Clean factor ? (5) >0 => scale residuals ? (6) Half-width in x of box ? (7) Half-width in y of box ? (8) Filter components whose ? neighborhood is weaker than ? IMAGRPRM(8) Jy. Can TELL ? only if non-zero on GO. ? 0 -> no filtering. ? (9) Radius in pixels for the ? IMAGRPRM(8) test. ? (11-15) Multi-scale controls ? (19) Dynamic range limit ? (20) Retry factor (see help) NGAUSS 0.0 10.0 Number of scales to use WGAUSS 0.0 Scales in arc sec >= 0 FGAUSS 0.0 Minimum flux for each resol. MAXPIXEL * 0.0 500000.0 Maximum pixels searched in * each major cycle. IN3NAME Spectral index image name IN3CLASS Spectral index image class IN3SEQ Spectral index image sequence number IN3DISK Spectral index image disk IN4NAME Spectral curvature name IN4CLASS Spectral curvature class IN4SEQ Spectral curvature sequence number IN4DISK Spectral curvature disk FQTOL Frequency tolerance in kHz (primary beam & spec index) DOTV * -1.0 4096.0 Display residuals on TV ? Start with field = DOTV GRCHAN 0.0 7.0 Graphics channel of boundary BADDISK -1.0 1000.0 Disks to avoid for scratch. ---------------------------------------------------------------- IMAGR Type: Task Use: IMAGR is intended to be the only imaging/Clean task in AIPS. It is the only one to offer the full range of weighting, gridding, and Clean component correction options. It also has the most advanced DOTV option. Eventually, all other imaging tasks except SCMAP should be replaced by procedures giving simplified access to IMAGR. Wide field imaging/Cleaning task. IMAGR does a visibility baseD Clean similar to MX but offers a variety of corrections related to imaging wide fields and/or multi- or wide-band frequency observations. These are: 1) Relative frequency dependent primary beam corrections in the Clean subtractions from the visibility data. 2) Simple correction for source spectral index. 3) Correct errors in assumed center frequency. 4) Uses double size beam if possible for Cleans depending on IMAGRPRM(10). 5) Labels images with average zenith and parallactic angles so that snapshot VLA images can be corrected with OHGEO for misaligned coplanar array geometric distortion. 6) Supports 3-D DFT imaging to avoid non-coplanar array image distortion. (THIS IS REALLY SLOW!) 7) After Cleaning the residuals may be scaled by the ratio of the restoring beam area to the dirty beam area. IMAGRPRM(5) > 0 enables this option. The dirty beam area is determined in a box centered on the peak of half width IMAGRPRM(6) in x (RA) and IMAGRPRM(7) in y (dec). In addition to the "familiar" Clark Clean with Schwab/Cotton use of uv-plane subtraction (BGC Clean), IMAGR also offers an alternative deconvolution algorithm originally described by Steer, Dewdeny, and Ito (SDI Clean). This algorithm attempts to cut the top off the plateau of emission found in the residual image(s) in a relatively uniform way. The algorithm therefore tries to avoid the "bed-of-nails" defect common to most Clean deconvolutions. Unfortunately, it is very expensive to determine the correct weights to use for each pixel in this algorithm. The technique used by IMAGR does apply larger weights to isolated pixels and pixels at the edges of the "plateau" but these weights are still not quite large enough to avoid a tendency to make a slight rim around the plateau. The next cycle of SDI Clean does trim this down and the method converges well for the extended sources for which the algorithm was designed. IMAGR allows you to switch back and forth automatically between BGC and SDI depending on the contrast between the brightest residual pixel and the bulk of residual pixels. (SDI is used when the contrast is low.) Alternatively, the TV menu allows you to force the choice of SDI or BGC for the next major cycle. The output CC files will be ordered in descending value of the component flux. They will be merged (all components at the same pixel summed) if the OVERLAP, SDI Clean, or component filtering options are enabled. Otherwise, they will be in the order found by the Clark Clean algorithm. Merged CC files are often much smaller and less affected by minor variations in the Cleaning. It has been traditional to cut off models at the first negative component. Since the first negative component is usually either a correction for too much flux having been subtracted at a cell or an attempt to represent a point source which does not lie on a grid cell, this tradition has little if any scientific validity. The CC filtering option may be used to remove areas of negative components from the modeling both during and at the end of the Clean. For total intensity images, this has rather more scientific basis than the tradition described above. IMAGR runs as an interactive task when NFIELD times the number of scales > 64 and offers a very useful option in OVERLAP >=2 mode when you choose to run it interactively with fewer fields. To do this, set DOWAIT=TRUE before saying GO IMAGR. The task will not resume the present AIPS until it finishes which leaves that xterm available to IMAGR for interaction with the user. Note that another xterm window may be used to run another AIPS and TELL allows you to specify the AIPS number for the task to which you wish to TELL something. Adverbs: INNAME.....Input UV data file (name). Standard defaults. INCLASS....Input UV data file (class). Standard defaults. INSEQ......Input UV data file (seq. #). 0 => highest. INDISK.....Input UV data file disk drive #. 0 => any. SOURCES....Source name - specify at most 1. QUAL.......Only sources with a source qualifier number in the SU table matching QUAL will be used if QUAL is not -1. CALCODE....Sources may be selected on the basis of the calibrator code given in the SU table. ' ' => any calibrator code selected '* ' => any non blank code (cal. only) '-CAL' => blank codes only (no calibrators) anything else = calibrator code to select. NB: The CALCODE test is applied in addition to the other tests, i.e. SOURCES and QUAL, in the selection of sources to process. TIMERANG...Time range of the data to be copied. In order: Start day, hour, min. sec, end day, hour, min. sec. Days relative to ref. date. SELBAND....Bandwidth of data to be selected. If more than one IF is present SELBAND is the width of the first IF required. Units = kHz. For data which contain multiple bandwidths/frequencies the task will insist that some form of selection be made by frequency or bandwidth. SELFREQ....Frequency of data to be selected. If more than one IF is present SELFREQ is the frequency of the first IF required. Units = MHz. FREQID.....Frequency identifier to select (you may determine which is applicable from the OPTYPE='SCAN' listing produced by LISTR). If either SELBAND or SELFREQ are set, their values override that of FREQID. However, setting SELBAND and SELFREQ may result in an ambiguity. In that case, the task will request that you use FREQID. SUBARRAY...Sub-array number to copy. 0=>all. ANTENNAS...A list of the antennas to include in the imaging. If any number is negative then all antennas listed are NOT desired and all others are. All 0 => list all. BASELINE...Baselines are specified using BASELINE. Eg. for baselines 1-6, 1-8, 2-6 and 2-8 use ANTENNAS=1,2; BASELINE=6,8. DOCALIB....If true (>0), calibrate the data using information in the specified Cal (CL) table for multi-source or SN table for single-source data. Also calibrate the weights unless DOCALIB > 99 (use this for old non-physical weights). GAINUSE....version number of the CL table to apply to multi-source files or the SN table for single source files. 0 => highest. DOPOL......If > 0.5 then correct data for instrumental polarization as represented in the AN table. This correction is only useful if PCAL has been run or feed polarization parameters have been otherwise obtained. If DOPOL > 0.5, then you can do only one sub-array at a time. If you have more than one sub-array, it would be best to calibrate and SPLIT each separately and then DBCON them back together before IMAGRing. See HELP DOPOL for available correction modes. IMAGR uses DOPOL as the nearest integer; 0.1 is therefore "false". BLVER......Version number of the baseline based calibration (BL) table to apply. <0 => apply no BL table, 0 => highest. FLAGVER....specifies the version of the flagging table to be applied. 0 => highest numbered table. <0 => no flagging to be applied. DOBAND.....If true (>0) then correct the data for the shape of the antenna bandpasses using the BP table specified by BPVER. The correction has five modes: (a) if DOBAND=1 all entries for an antenna in the table are averaged together before correcting the data. (b) if DOBAND=2 the entry nearest in time (including solution weights) is used to correct the data. (c) if DOBAND=3 the table entries are interpolated in time (using solution weights) and the data are then corrected. (d) if DOBAND=4 the entry nearest in time (ignoring solution weights) is used to correct the data. (e) if DOBAND=5 the table entries are interpolated in time (ignoring solution weights) and the data are then corrected. IMAGR uses DOBAND as the nearest integer; 0.1 is therefore "false". BPVER......Specifies the version of the BP table to be applied 0 => highest numbered table. <0 => no bandpass correction to be applied. SMOOTH.....Specifies the type of spectral smoothing to be applied to a uv database . The default is not to apply any smoothing. The elements of SMOOTH are as follows: SMOOTH(1) = type of smoothing to apply: 0 => no smoothing To smooth before applying bandpass calibration 1 => Hanning, 2 => Gaussian, 3 => Boxcar, 4 => Sinc To smooth after applying bandpass calibration 5 => Hanning, 6 => Gaussian, 7 => Boxcar, 8 => Sinc SMOOTH(2) = the "diameter" of the function, i.e. width between first nulls of Hanning triangle and sinc function, FWHM of Gaussian, width of Boxcar. Defaults (if < 0.1) are 4, 2, 2 and 3 channels for SMOOTH(1) = 1 - 4 and 5 - 8, resp. SMOOTH(3) = the diameter over which the convolving function has value - in channels. Defaults: 1,3,1,4 times SMOOTH(2) used when input SMOOTH(3) < net SMOOTH(2). STOKES.....Make images with this STOKES parameter. Unlike UVMAP only one STOKES is permitted per execution. (A beam is made for each frequency channel) Use: 'I', 'Q','U', 'V', 'RR' (=RCP), 'LL' (=LCP) BCHAN......First channel number to image, 0=>1. Channel numbers are 1 relative as defined in the input data file. ECHAN......Highest channel number to to include in image, 0 => max The actual # of output channels will be (ECHAN-BCHAN+1-NCHAV)/CHINC + 1 Thus, ECHAN is the highest channel in the input averaged into the output and is the highest output channel only if BCHAN, NCHAV, and CHINC are 1. CHANNEL....To restart a map/Clean with a given frequency channel, specify that (input) channel in CHANNEL NCHAV......NCHAV is the number of channels to be averaged together in in the gridding process. 0 => 1. If this value is less than the total number of channels, then a multi-channel image will result. Note that the last output channel may include data from fewer than NCHAV input channels unless ECHAN, BCHAN, CHINC, and NCHAV are very carefully chosen. The term "averaged" applies to the output image; each channel is kept separate in the uv data used in the imaging so that it may be gridded and model subtracted at the correct frequency. CHINC......Number of input channels to skip between images. 0 => 1 The i'th output channel includes input channels BCHAN + (i-1)*CHINC through MIN (ECHAN, BCHAN + (i-1)*CHINC + NCHAV - 1). BIF........The lowest numbered IF to include. Multiple IFs can be included in a bandwidth synthesis average. 0 => 1. EIF........The highest numbered IF to include. 0 =>highest. Note: not all data sets will have IFs. OUTNAME....Output image name (name). Standard defaults. OUTDISK....The disk drive # of output images. 0 => highest with space Image and Beam go on same disk. Note: OUTCLASS='xCLnnn' where x=Stokes, nnn=field number and 'xBMnnn' is the beam CLASS. If NITER=0, OUTCLASS='xIMnnn' If OUTDISK <= 0, ALLOKAY is ignored (set to 0). OUTSEQ.....Output sequence number. 0 => highest to produce unique maps and beam. Note that this will produce, potentially, maps and beams with a variety of sequence numbers depending on what files are already on disk. If OUTSEQ > 0, all images and beams for all fields are assigned that sequence number and pre-existing files are reused. An error will occur if the pre-exsitng files are of different sizes than the ones currently being requested. If OUTSEQ <= 0, ALLOKAY is ignored (set to 0). OUTVER.....CC table version number for continuum data only. For line data the channel number is used for the version number. ******** THIS MUST BE SET TO HAVE A RESTART (BCOMP > 0) FIND THE DESIRED CC FILE RATHER THAN A NEW ONE ********** IN2NAME....UV data work file name. This file is used as the scratch file and may be used when restarting IMAGR or to examine the final residuals. Default=OUTNAME. Note that IMAGR assumes that the work file contains correct residuals only if ALLOKAY >= 2.. If ALLOKAY < 2, it copies the input data to the work file and then, when restarting, subtracts the BCOMP components. IN2NAME must be set for ALLOKAY >= 2 to work. IN2CLASS...UV work file class. IN2CLASS must be set for ALLOKAY >= 2 to work. Default is IMAGR, but that does not apply to the ALLOKAY>= 2 usage. IN2CLASS must be set for ALLOKAY >= 2 to be allowed. IN2SEQ.....UV work data file sequence number. <= 0 => highest existing + 1 If you want to keep the work file, set at least one of IN2NAME, IN2CLASS, or IN2SEQ. If you set IN2SEQ to some number and leave it fixed, then the same file will be used over and over. This saves time in file creation and leaves the file behind for examination of residuals (e.g. with EDITR or UVFND) in case there are problems in the Clean. If IN2NAME and IN2CLASS are blank and IN2SEQ 0, then the work file will be deleted at the end of the job. The IN2SEQ must be set for ALLOKAY >= 2 to work. IN2DISK....UV work data file disk number. IN2DISK must be set for ALLOKAY >= 2 to work. CELLSIZE...(X,Y) pixel separation in asec. IMSIZE.....(X,Y) The minimum desired size of the fields regardless of the FLDSIZE for component search. NFIELD.....The number of fields to map in the antenna beam. Up to 4096 are allowed. Note that only 64 fields may be described in adverbs, but 4096 are allowed. If you want to set Clean boxes in advance for more than the first field, or wish to specify RASHIFT, DECSHIFT, FLDSIZE, or BCOMP for fields > 64, you must use the BOXFILE option. If the multi-scale option is used, the actual number of fields imaged will be NFIELD*(Number of scales). DO3DIMAG...> 0 => make the images by shifting the tangent point to the field center. This is more accurate for significant shifts than simply moving the w term to the field center which is what happens with DO3DIM <= 0. It turns out that this option costs only about 1% of the cpu time when it is not needed and may make Cleans go very much faster when it is needed. FLDSIZE....(X,Y) field size in pixels for the component search during Cleaning; one per field. Should be in the range 32X32 to 8192X8192. Output image size will be increased to the next highest power of two (or IMSIZE if that is greater), but only the region specified will be searched for components. Default is IMSIZE-10. Set FLDSIZE(1,i) and FLDSIZE(2,i) = -1, if you want there to be NO clean box initially in field i. TV options may be used to delete, change and create Clean boxes interactively. The BOXFILE option and the NVSS WWW server may help in entering these values;see below. RASHIFT....RA shift of the phase center of each field from the tangent point of the uv data in asec. Map center = tangent point + shift. If X>0 shifts map center to east. NOTE: RASHIFT is a shift in RA scaled by cos (Dec_0) as Ra_new(i) = RA_0 + RASHIFT(i) / cos (Dec_0) where _0 => the tangent point in the uv data. This is a change for 15OCT99 from shifts in -SIN projection (which do not work for -NCP data and large angles). If the UV data have been rotated then RASHIFT and DECSHIFT refer to X and Y in the new coordinate system. The BOXFILE option and the NVSS WWW server may help in entering these values;see below. DECSHIFT...Declination shift of map center from tangent point of each field in asec. Map center = tangent point + shift. If Y>0 shifts map center to north. The BOXFILE option and the NVSS WWW server may help in entering these values;see below. UVTAPER....(U,V) Gaussian taper (kilo-lambda) at 30% level UVRANGE....(Minimum,Maximum) baseline (kilo-lambda) in map. GUARD......Fraction of the x and y radius for which uv samples are not allowed. < 0 => just enough to avoid mathematical errors in the convolution. 0 => 0.3 * SQRT(taper weight at 0.3 from edge). ROTATE.....Rotation angle to be applied in degrees. ZEROSP.....(1)= zero spacing Stokes I flux density. Zero spacing flux is placed at the center of FIELD 1. (2)= zero spacing Stokes Q flux density (3)= zero spacing Stokes U flux density (4)= zero spacing Stokes V flux density (5)= weight for zero spacing flux. Both ZEROSP(1) and ZEROSP(5) must be > 0 to apply this option. The zero-spacing data sample is appended to the end of the input data set and participates in any uniform weighting, gridding, etc. in the same way any other sample does. ******* NOTE THAT THIS IS NOT THE SAME AS OTHER IMAGING TASKS USAGE OF ZEROSP. **************** UVWTFN.....Weighting function of (u-v) plane in 2 character code. If the 1st character is N use "natural" weighting (the weights attached to the data with no variation due to local density). Otherwise, use "uniform" weighting in which the weights are scaled by the local density of weights under control of adverbs UVSIZE, UVBOX, UVBXFN, and ROBUST. The second character (and also the first) controls any alteration of the weights to be done before they are used in the natural or uniform weighting: 2nd character = S => take square root of weight_in 2nd character = V => take fourth root of weight_in 2nd character = O => use 1.0 UVWTFN = 'CS' => take 1 / square root of weight_in UVWTFN = 'CV' => take 1 / fourth root of weight_in UVWTFN = 'C?' => take 1 / weight_in where ? is any character except S, V, O UVSIZE.....Size of the array used to count samples for uniform weighting. Does not have to be a power of two and can be smaller than or bigger than the image size. The default is the size of the first output image. ROBUST.....Briggs' "robustness" parameter. "Uniform" weights are tempered by a constant being added to the local density of weights. ROBUST = -4 is nearly pure uniform weighting, ROBUST = +4 is nearly pure natural weighting. Use of this option requires a second array in the "AP" memory and may therefore force the data to be sorted. The option is turned off if ROBUST < -7 and uniform weighting is turned off is ROBUST > 7. See HELP ROBUST - the AIPS ROBUST differs numerically from that of Briggs. UVBOX......(U,V) box size for weighting. This is the support radius over which a sample is counted. I.e., the sample or its weight is counted over an area 2*UVBOX+1 cells on each side in the UV plane, where the UV cell size is (after correcting units) given by 1 / (UVSIZE(i) * CELLSIZE(i)). UVBXFN.....If UVBOX > 0, UVBXFN controls how the samples are counted as a function of u and v (UVBXFN < 0) or of radius (UVBXFN > 0). In the latter case, the function is 0 for radius > UVBOX. Functions are pill box, linear, exponential, and Gaussian for ABS(UVBXFN) = 1-4, resp. 0 -> 1. See HELP UVBXFN. XTYPE......Convolution function type in X-direction 1=Pill-box, 2=exponential, 3=Sinc, 4=Exp*Sinc, 5=Spheroidal, 6=exp*BESSJ1(x)/x. <= 0 or > 5 -> 5. YTYPE......Convolution function type in Y-direction XPARM......Array containing parameters for XTYPE. See HELP UVnTYPE when n=convolution type. YPARM......Array containing parameters for YTYPE. NITER......Clean iteration limit. 0 => no Cleaning. BCOMP......Restart Clean using BCOMP(i) components for each field i. If >0, you must completely specify the OUTNAME and OUTSEQ of the Clean map(s). BCOMPs for fields > 64 are set to the average for fields 1-64 when NFIELD > 64. This may be changed using the BOXFILE option. BCOMP(i) > actual CC number of field i are reset to the actual number, so set BCOMP = large number to get all components. If Clean component filtering is selected [IMAGRPRM(8 and 9)], it is applied on restarts. If ALLOKAY >= 2, then BCOMP must be set to a large number and the filtering is not applied on the restart. ALLOKAY....If restarting, 1 => beam images are already computed and do not need to be recomputed. 2 => the work file is also already filled with data and the BCOMP components have been subtracted. Note that this option is designed to speed things up but you can cause a lot of trouble with it. ALLOKAY >= 2 requires IN2NAME, IN2CLASS, IN2SEQ, IN2DISK, OUTSEQ, and OUTDISK to be set and BCOMP to be a large number. NBOXES.....Number (<=50) of rectangular search boxes to search on the first field; the Clean window in all other fields is given by FLDSIZE. 0 => use FLDSIZE to determine windows on field 1. CLBOX......A 4x50 array with the parameters of each box. 0 => use window specified in FLDSIZE. CLBOX(1,i)=-1 indicates a circle of radius CLBOX(2,i) pixels centered on (CLBOX(3,i), CLBOX(4,i)). CLBOX(1,i) >= 0 indicates a rectangular box. NOTE: CLBOX is not used to determine the size of the image to be made; IMSIZE or FLDSIZE must set the size of the image. BOXFILE....Input text file used to simplify the specification of large numbers of fields and/or large numbers of Clean boxes. Leading and trailing blanks from all lines in the text file are discarded, so "column 1" below means the first non-blank column in the card. This option is used to specify field parameters for fields 1 through NFIELD which are then copied to the fields used for additional scales (if any). To specify a field's parameters, put the letter F or f in column 1 followed by the field number, the X and Y FLDSIZE values, the RASHIFT amd the DECSHIFT for the field (separated by blanks). Any field specified in this way overrides the corresponding parameters given in the adverbs. Thus, F 2 450 450 -25.5 6.7 specifies that field 2 is to have a FLDSIZE of 450x450 with an RASHIFT of -25.6 and a DECSHIFT of 6.7 arcsec. If this is the only F card in the file, then fields 1 and 3 through NFIELD are set by the adverb values. As an alternative, a field may also be specified with a "coordinates" card having a C or c in column one. After the C, give the field number, the X and Y FLDSIZE values and the center Right Ascension (HH MM SS.S) and Declination (signDD MM SS.S) separated by blanks. Thus C 2 450 450 11 34 45.67 -00 14 23.1 specifies that field 2 is to have a FLDSIZE of 450x450 with a center RA of 173.6902917 degrees and a center Declination of -0.23975 degrees. All 9 numbers must be given; the sign is optional for positive declinations and is given only on the degrees term. To set a BCOMP include put the letter B or b in column 1 followed by the field number and the value of BCOMP to be used. Thus, to include no components from field 98 and some from 99 include the lines: B 98 0 B 99 243 Fields 1 through NFIELD*(Number of scales) may be specified. To set Clean boxes, specify one box per line, as field blc-x blc-y trc-x trc-y (5 integers) e.g. 1 200 205 220 222 1 230 232 240 241 2 100 100 130 121 ... or circular "boxes" as field -1 radius center-x center-y (5 ints) e.g. 001 -1 10 210 214 001 -1 5 235 237 .... Column 1 must contain a numeric character (part of the field number); otherwise the line is treated as a some other sort of line. Fields with no boxes specified default to the size specified by IMSIZE and FLDSIZE (see above and including FLDSIZEs read from this file). This option overrides NBOXES and CLBOX if any boxes for field one appear in the file. Otherwise, those adverbs are used for field 1. E.g. BOXFILE 'FITS:BOXES' Fields 1 through NFIELD*(Number of scales) may be specified. If you do not give boxes for a field > NFIELD, then the boxes for the corresponding field at full resolution (0 scale) are copied to those at the lower resolutions (larger scales). If BOXFILE = ' ', NBOXES and CLBOX apply unchanged as do the FLDSIZE, RASHIFT, and DECSHIFT adverbs. The NVSS WWW server may help in preparing these values;see below. The number of Clean boxes per field is limited to min [ 4096, (64*4096)/(NFIELD*NGAUSS) ] To specify that a field has no Clean boxes, specify the BLC and TRC as four zeros. When combining more than one spectral channel or IF, you may wish to alter their relative weights in a temporary fashion. The BOXFILE option allows this with W cards: W in column 1, then a weight, then a channel number (0 -> all), and last an optional IF number (absent -> 0, 0 -> all). For example: W 0.1 1 W 0.5 2 W 0.8 2 3 W 0.1 63 Assigns weight 1 to all channels 3-62, weight 0.1 to all channels 1 and 63, weight 0.5 to channel 2 except for 0.8 in channel 2, IF 3. These "weights" multiply the weights already assigned to the data. The BOXFILE option is essential when NFIELD > 64. OBOXFILE...Output text file to record the Clean boxes used. If BOXFILE is also used and OBOXFILE points at a new file, then IMAGR starts by copying all of BOXFILE to OBOXFILE. Then, each time a TV REBOX or TVBOX is selected the file is rewritten (as the TV interaction ends) with all of the Clean boxes currently in force for all fields. The lines in the file containing other kinds of information are retained throughout. Thus, one can set OBOXFILE=BOXFILE or for safety make a new OBOXFILE but then use that as input the next time. GAIN.......The Clean loop gain. 0 => 0.10. FLUX.......Stop Clean when abs(resid. image max) < FLUX in Jy. If FLUX < 0 then Clean stops after the first negative Clean component (the actual value of FLUX is then irrelevant). MINPATCH...Minimum half width of the portion of the beam which is used in the AP minor Clean. (init 51) Use 51 for deep Cleans of extended sources. Use a large value if the beam has big side-lobes. BMAJ.......The FWHM (asec) major axis of the restoring beam. If 0; value obtained from fitting to the beam. If <0; output will contain the residual image. This is for the point-source resolution. It will be corrected to the other scales (if any). BMIN.......The FWHM (asec) minor axis of the restoring beam. BPA........The position angle in the unrotated image of BMAJ. OVERLAP....If <= 0, components found in one field are restored only to that field even if they occur at a coordinate found in one or more other fields. If >0, components from each field are restored to all fields that they overlap. For OVERLAP<2, all fields are Cleaned in each major cycle. For OVERLAP >= 2, one field is Cleaned and its components subtracted from the uv data before the next field is imaged and Cleaned. This prevents the slow convergence which happens when Clean boxes in two fields actually cover the same emission. It also reduces the affects of sidelobe bumps of strong sources appearing to be sources in the weaker fields. If OVERLAP>0, the output CC files will have been merged. If OVERLAP>=2, you can control which field is Cleaned next, but only if the task runs interactively (set DOWAIT=TRUE before GO IMAGR). OVERLAP >= 2 should be used if you use the multi-scale option below. OVERLAP>=2 is believed to be a superior Clean method, but it is a bit experimental and may be slower than OVERLAP=1. Set OVERLAP = N (where N > 2) to force all images to be recomputed with filtering every N Cleans. You may also force recomputing from the TV menu. PHAT.......The offset added to the pixel at the beam peak. Should be about /2* but you may well need to experiment. This option is not recommended. FACTOR.....FACTOR>0 causes deeper Clean in each major cycle, speeding Clean, maybe "eating" extended structure. OVERLAP=2 mode may need speeding with FACTOR and/or larger MAXPIXEL. FACTOR=0 => the normal Clark Clean. FACTOR=-0.3 is good for deep Cleans of extended structure. CMETHOD....This determines the method used to compute the model visibility values. 'DFT' uses the direct Fourier transform, this method is the most accurate. 'GRID' does a gridded-FFT interpolation model computation. ' ' allows the program to use the fastest method, except that DFT will be used on images <= 128 for accuracy reasons. IMAGRPRM...Correction control parameters (SEE EXPLAIN IMAGR): (1) If > 0 then make frequency dependent primary beam corrections assuming an antenna diameter of IMAGRPRM(1) meters. Can change with TELL which only makes sense if you are going to repeat the subtraction with a filtered set of components (see IMAGRPRM(8)). Note that VLA and ATCA arrays (TELESCOPE header parameter) use the default primary beam parameters defined elsewhere in AIPS, while other antennas actually use IMAGRPRM(1) as the diameter of a "standard" telescope. See FQTOL below also. (2) Visibility amplitudes will be corrected to the average frequency assuming a spectral index of IMAGRPRM(2). Note: the typical optically thin synchrotron spectral index is about -0.7. (3) If > 0, then the u,v and w terms are scaled by IMAGRPRM(3) before imaging. (4) If > 0, then SDI Clean will be used when the fraction of residual pixels in the Clean boxes stronger than half the maximum residual exceeds IMAGRPRM(4). <= 0 -> never use or allow SDI Clean. Can change with TELL. If SDI Clean is enabled, the output CC files will have been merged. (5) If > 0 then scaling of residuals is requested and (6) Half-width in x of box to determine the dirty beam area (default = 5) (7) Half-width in y of box to determine the dirty beam area (default = 5) Can change (5)-(7) with TELL. (8) If non-zero, select only those Clean components having > ABS(IMAGRPRM(8)) Jy within a radius of IMAGRPRM(9) cells of the component. If IMAGRPRM(8) < 0, the abs value of the flux near the component is used. This is an optional filter to remove weak isolated components which can cause a significant bias. Can change with TELL but only if it was non-zero to begin with. A copy of the input data has to be made for this option and it is only made if IMAGRPRM(8) is non-zero. If this option is selected, the output CC files will have been merged. Note that IMAGRPRM(8) should always be <= 0 for images of Q, U, and V Stokes parameters since negative brightnesses are valid. Filtering is done on restarts, when requested from the TV, on certain Cleaning failures, on normal completion (after which the task resumes Cleaning until the completion points such as NITER and FLUX are reached a second time) and on final exit. If ALLOKAY >= 2, the filter is not applied on the restart. If the filtering option was selected at the start (IMAGRPRM(8) non zero), it may be turned off by setting IMAGRPRM(8) exactly 0 and running TELL. To delete all negative regions, set IMAGRPRM(8) to a tiny positive number. (9) The radius in cells for the area in which fluxes are computed. < 1.1 => 3.1. Can change with TELL. (10) = multiplier of max image size to set beam size. Values of 2, 1, 0.5, and 0.25 are allowed. 0 => 2. Smaller beam images are a bit faster, but less accurate in the early Clean cycles. The largest beam image used is 2048 on a side except when IMAGRPRM(1) > 0.75. When IMAGRPRM(10) is 1, the limit is 4096 and when IMAGRPRM(10) > 1.5, the beam is twice the image size limited by 32768. Multi-scale experimental controls are based on BeamRatio = (field beam area) / (min beam area) (11) Multi-scale experimental control: select which field to Clean using peak fluxes (in Jy/beam) weighted by 1 / (BeamRatio)**IMAGRPRM(11). This is important. (12) Multi-scale experimental control: decrement the value of IMAGRPRM(11) used above by IMAGRPRM(12) each time an non-point resolution field is Cleaned until it is 0. (13) Multi-scale experimental control: use gain = GAIN * [ {1/BeamRatio} ** IMAGRPRM(13) ] (14,15) Multi-scale experimental control: use factor = FACTOR + IMAGRPRM(14) * [ 1 - {BeamRatio} ** IMAGRPRM(15) ] (16) Multi-scale experimental control: use maxpixel = MAXPIXEL + IMAGRPRM(16) * (BeamRatio) Multi-scale experimental control limits: 0 <= IMAGRPRM(11) <= 1.0 not changed by TELL 0 <= IMAGRPRM(12) <= 0.1 changed by TELL 0 <= IMAGRPRM(13) <= 1.0 changed by TELL 0 <= IMAGRPRM(14) <= 1.0 changed by TELL 0 <= IMAGRPRM(15) <= 1.0 changed by TELL 0 <= IMAGRPRM(16) changed by TELL (17) 1 => use a spectral-index image represented in IN3NAME, IN3CLASS, IN3SEQ, IN3DISK below to correct the Clean component model for each channel. IN4NAME et al will also be used as a curvature image iff IN3NAME are specified. IMAGRPRM(17)-0.5 is used as a radius in pixels over which the spectral index image is averaged. When it is small (0 < IMAGRPRM(17) <~ 1), the spectral index is interpolated rather than averaged. See FQTOL below as well. When doing spectral index, the primary beam correction (IMAGRPRM(1)) costs very little extra. (19) In OVERLAP>= 2 mode, when Cleaning a field with a small bright source, it is possible to Clean too deeply. Then weak lumps due to sidelobes of strong sources in other fields are treated as sources in the present field. By the time the present field is Cleaned again, these errors become very apparent. This parameter is used to limit the weakest source Cleaned in this major cycle to IMAGRPRM(19) times the strongest source in this cycle. The default is the sum of the maximum sidelobe outside a radius of 5 pixels and the maximum sidelobe outside a radius of MINPATCH pixels. IMAGRPRM(19) is also used to limit the depth of a SDI Clean major cycle. SDI never goes deeper than 0.33 of the peak, but even that may be too much. (20) In OVERLAP >= 2 mode, the objective function of the selected field after it is re-imaged is compared to the objective function of the second best field (without re-imaging). If the second best now appears better than the selected field by a factor greater than IMAGRPRM(20), then the task will try another field. 0 = 1.005. (Values < 1 are converted to 1/IMAGRPRM(20) and, finally, values > 5 => 1.005.) NGAUSS.....Number of scales to use. 0 -> WGAUSS=0 and NGAUSS = 1. The total number of scales is NGAUSS and the total number of fields imaged will be NFIELD*NGAUSS. Clean boxes specified for fields 1-NFIELD will be copied to the corresponding fields NFIELD+1 to NFIELD*NGAUSS unless (using BOXFILE) you have specified them already. RASHIFT, DECSHIFT, FLDSIZE are specified only for fields 1-NFIELD. See multi-scale Clean discussion in the Explain section. WGAUSS.....The FWHM of the circular Gaussian source models to be used. If a point source is to be used (which is recommended), then WGAUSS(1) should be 0 and WGAUSs(2) through WGAUSS(NGAUSS) > 0. IMAGR will go through the widths to insure that, if a WGAUSS of 0 is used, it is the first one. Also, if a WGAUSS of 0 is used, only that scale is restored. The other images are left in a residual state. FGAUSS.....The minimum flux in Jy/beam for each scale in the same order as WGAUSS. Must be >= FLUX to have much effect. MAXPIXEL...The maximum number of pixels that are searched for components inside the ``AP'' in each major cycle. <= 0 => 20000. This number affects the cpu usage significantly. Too many causes the task to search over many points it will never use. Too few causes the task to do many more small major cycles, also at great expense. Use this with great caution, but big wins are possible using larger sizes on very large Cleans. OVERLAP=2 mode may need speeding with FACTOR > 0 and/or larger MAXPIXEL. IN3NAME....Image name of spectral index image; no default. IN3CLASS...Image class of spectral index image; no default. IN3SEQ.....Image sequence of spectral index image; 0 -> highest. IN3DISK....Disk of spectral image image; 0 -> any. IN4NAME....Image name of spectral index curvature image; no default. IN4CLASS...Image class of spectral index curvature image; no default. IN4SEQ.....Image sequence of spectral index curvature image; 0 -> highest. IN4DISK....Disk of spectral curvature image image; 0 -> any. FQTOL......Frequency tolerance in kHz. Spectral channels with FQTOL are handled together (use the same average CC model) when applying the primary beam and spectral index corrections. Default is to do each channel separately which can take a long time. DOTV.......Display residuals on TV channel 1. > 0.5 => display field number DOTV initially. Can be changed interactively and by TELL. When using this option, you may interact with the residual images, selecting which field is examined in what window, resetting the Clean boxes, and stop the Cleaning of the current channel. IMAGR uses DOTV in the form of the nearest integer; set it ionly to integer values. GRCHAN.....If > 3, then the specified graphics channel (4 through 7) will be used to display an inscribed circle in each image outside of which it is inadvisable to Clean. Channel 4 will interact in the display with the window-drawing graphics channel (3), so 5-7 are recommended. BADDISK....This array contains the numbers of disks on which it is desired that scratch files not be located. BADDISK has no effect on input and output maps. ---------------------------------------------------------------- IMAGR: Wide-field or wide-band imaging/Cleaning task. Documenter: W. D. Cotton, E. W. Greisen NRAO Related Programs: MX, OHGEO, UBAVG, WFCLN This task does a visibility-based Clean similar to MX but contains a number of optional corrections and enhancements which are useful for imaging a wide field of view and/or using multiple or wide frequency bands. In addition, it has revised options to control the data weighting prior to the imaging. The draft explain file below contains 5 sections: A. the new data weighting options, B. the new TV display options, C. the extended-source Cleaning options, D. the wide-field, wide-band options, and E. the MX explain file with a few modifications. Data input to IMAGR can be in any sort order and can even be in need of calibration --- IMAGR will do the operations of SPLIT if requested. IMAGR will sort the data to avoid having to do multiple passes through it for weighting, gridding, or Clean component model subtraction and will tell you when it does sort the data. If you are going to use the same data set for multiple runs of IMAGR, it would be more efficient to run SPLIT and UVSRT in advance to avoid repeated needs to sort and to apply calibration to the data. The history file records most input adverbs plus some result parameters. Adverbs that have values of 0 or blank are usually omitted for brevity. **************************************************************** **************** NVSS WWW Server assistance **************** **************************************************************** There is a new Web service for AIPS users making images from low frequency radio interferometer data. This Web service (http://www.cv.nrao.edu/~bcotton/NVSSAIPS.html) uses the NRAO/VLA Sky Survey (NVSS) catalog to produce a list of potentially confusing sources around a specified celestial position. The result is in the form of an AIPS RUN file that may be cut and pasted into an AIPS window that sets up the input ADVERBS for AIPS task IMAGR to add extra fields around these confusing sources. Selection of source is by region of the sky and peak 20 cm flux density after correction for the antenna gain at the frequency of observation. The NVSS survey was made with the NRAO VLA array at 20 cm wavelength (1.4 GHz) with a resolution of 45", full sky coverage north of -40 degrees declination, and a limiting source peak brightness of about 2.5 mJy (worse near the galactic plane). The NVSS is nearing completion and the catalog contains more than 1.8 million sources. Bill Cotton, Jim Condon **************************************************************** ****************** DATA WEIGHTING OPTIONS ****************** **************************************************************** In the following discussion, we will assume that the input data have weights Wi(j) = K / (sigma(j)**2) for the j'th sample, where K is a constant and sigma is the uncertainty in the visibility. If you have multiple sub-arrays or have otherwise combined observations from multiple interferometers, you should adjust the data weights in DBCON or WTMOD to make this assumption be valid with the same value of K for each sub-array and interferometer. In the weighting process, each data weight is changed from Wi(j) to Wo(j). In so doing, the noise in the output image (for point-source detection) is increased by a factor of sqrt { sum [Wo(j) * Wo(j) / Wi(j)] sum [wi(j)] } WTN = ------------------------------------------------- sum [Wo(j)] IMAGR evaluates this factor, reports it and places it as keyword WTNOISE in the output image headers. Note that weighting always increases the noise, but is usually done to improve the shape of the point-source response (dirty beam pattern). Data re-weighting consists of three parts: (1) brute modifications of the input weights, (2) modification of the input weights as a function of the local density of data weights and/or samples, and (3) modification of the data weights as a function of position in the Fourier plane (i.e., taper). The first, and most brutal of the "brute" modifications is done by discarding portions of the data via the UVRANGE and GUARD adverbs. Data samples lost in this way are not included in the reported WTN. The brute modification that does appear in the WTN reported is controlled by the second character in UVWTFN. The second character causes the weights to be modified before the local density of weights is measured (if it is measured) and again before they are used. If the second character is the letter 'V', the fourth root of the weights is taken; if it is the letter 'S' the square root of the weights is taken; and if it is the letter 'O' all weights are taken as 1.0. Thus, W1(j) = Wi(j) ** p where p = 0, .25, .5, 1.0 as the second character of UVWTFN is 'O', 'V', 'S', and anything else, resp. The first character in UVWTFN controls how step (2) is applied. If the first character is the letter 'N', then "natural" weighting is done and W2(j) = W1(j) If the first character of UVWTFN is the letter 'C', then the weights are modified by the local density of samples. If it is nether 'N' nor 'C', then "uniform weighting" is done in which the weights are modified by the "local density" of data weights. Thus, let P(j) = 1 for mode C and P(j) = W1(j) for uniform weights. To estimate the local density of P we must define both local and density. This is done by defining a summing array of size UVSIZE(1) by UVSIZE(2) to encompass the relevant area of the UV plane (i.e. 1/CELLSIZE in appropriate units). The default UVSIZE is the numerical size of the largest field being imaged, but you can set any value you like in the adverb. UVSIZE does not have to be a power of two and has virtually no upper limit imposed by the software. Of course, a really large value will cause the weighting to require a really large disk file and to take a long time. So what value of UVSIZE should you use? In the limit of very large UVSIZE, only one data sample would fall into each tiny cell in the array. If single cells determine the local "density", then, in this limit, uniform and natural weighting are the same. The same result occurs in the opposite extreme, UVSIZE=1. In between, different counts of P apply to different points. If you use a small UVSIZE, then the counting cells are large and it is likely that data samples which are fairly close to each other may get rather different density weights depending on exactly which cell they fall into. One way to "have your cake and eat it too" - paying with additional computations - is to define small cells in the array with a large UVSIZE, but to count each data sample's P value over a box 2 * UVBOX + 1 cells on a side centered on the cell in which the sample occurs. The counting of P can be weighted by a square or circular function so that a sample counts less the further one gets away from it. A set of simple functions is provided with parameter UVBXFN and include pill box (constant), linear, exponential, and Gaussian. (See HELP UVBXFN for the exact form of these functions.) This combination of parameters (large UVSIZE, UVBOX > 0, and UVBXFN) allows you to make a fairly subtle estimate of the local density of weights or samples (i.e. of P). Yet another adverb affects the output weights from uniform weighting. The "robustness" parameter, devised by Daniel Briggs, is used to temper the effects of uniform weighting. Thus, the weight actually used for sample i is W1(i) W2(i) = ---------------------- Sum[P](i) + S where Sum[P](i) is the weighted sum of P(j) (either W1(j) or 1) over all samples in the neighborhood of the cell occupied by the i'th sample and S is a function of ROBUST. We use (10**(ROBUST)) * S = -------------------------------- 5.0 where < > denotes the average of the local sums over all visibilities. Note that if ROBUST > 4, the weight sums have little effect and the weighting is close to natural weighting. If ROBUST < -4, then S is very small and we have virtually pure uniform weighting with no tempering. One obvious virtue of this temperance is to reduce the effects of the exact locations of samples with respect to counting cell boundaries. If a track just clips the corner of a counting cell, the one sample fallingin that cell will get much larger weight than nearby samples on that track which fall multiply in adjacent counting cells. The noise in the up-weighted sample will appear as a sine wave in the dirty image and will not Clean away. A modest amount of robustness seems to reduce the noise added by weighting significantly while causing only modest increases in the undesirable near-in sidelobes and central lobe width of the dirty beam. Finally, in the third stage, we apply additional weighting based on the position of the sample in the UV plane. At present, IMAGR only applies a Gaussian taper in U and in V. Thus, Wo(i) = W2(i) * exp (Cu U(i)**2 + Cv V(i)**2) where Cu = log (0.3) / (UVTAPER(1)*1000) ** 2 Cv = log (0.3) / (UVTAPER(2)*1000) ** 2 and U(i) and V(i) are the coordinates of the i'th data sample in the UV plane in wavelengths. With normal VLA-like data sampling, uniform weighting lowers the weights of the short spacings while tapering lowers the weights of long spacings. Thus a combination of tapering and uniform weighting can be used to reduce any severe clumping in the UV plane (e.g. along the arms of the array) while leaving most of the other weights virtually unchanged. We recommend Daniel Brigg's thesis for a detailed discussion of many of these aspects of weighting in imaging. **************************************************************** *********************** TV DISPLAY ************************* **************************************************************** The TV display may be used to follow the progress of your imaging and Cleaning. If you set DOTV > 0, the dirty image of field DOTV will be displayed before Clean begins and the residual image of the selected field will be displayed after each major Clean cycle. When the image is displayed, a menu of interactive options is also displayed. Move the TV cursor to a desired option, and press TV button A, B, or C. To get help on the message screen about an option, move the cursor to that option and press TV button D. The selected option is highlighted in a different color. If you select no options in 30 seconds, IMAGR will continue without you until the end of the next major cycle. Interactive options do not appear on the final display which is either of the dirty image (NITER = 0) or the Clean image with components restored. If you forget to turn on the TV display - or turn it off after starting IMAGR - you may turn it back on with TELL IMAGR (say SHOW IMAGR in AIPS to see all the TELL parameters that you may send to IMAGR after it has started). When OVERLAP is 2, the Clean process follows a somewhat different path. At the beginning, the end, and whenever instructed by the user, IMAGR makes an image of all fields using the current residual uv data. Otherwise, it makes an image of one field, does one major cycle on that field, subtracts the new Clean components from the uv residual data and then repeats the process with another field. The TV display makes it clear when multiple fields are accessible during that TV display session and it is important to set Clean windows when they are since the selection of fields to image depends on the extrema and average absolute value in the Clean windows only. When only one field is accesible, the field number is displayed in the menu and the option to re-image all fields is offered. That option will cause the next TV display to have all fields accessible and will cause the correct extrema and averages to be known for all fields at the current stage of the Cleaning. Otherwise, they become less than perfectly reliable estimates. When IMAGR is run in an interactive mode (> 64 fields or DOWAIT=true in GO), you may force IMAGR to use a field other than the one it selected using the "FORCE A FIELD" option in the TV menu. This recomputes the "forced" field, displays it on the TV, and lets you reset its boxes and get correct extrema for one it without having to recompute all of the fields. You can force one field after another until you get to the one you actually want it to Clean next. If you have specified Clean component filtering (IMAGRPRM(8 and 9)), then the FILTER COMPS menu item also causes the images to be recomputed after the components have been filtered. The interactive options appear in two or three columns. The left column offers: ---------------- | ABORT TASK | Abort the task, ending things as rapidly as possible. | TURN OFF DOTV | Resume Cleaning now and turn off future TV displays | STOP CLEANING | Declare the Clean of this channel done, restore components and write the output | OFFZOOM | turn off any zoom magnification | OFFTRAN | turn off any black & white enhancement | OFFCOLOR | turn off any pseudo-coloring | TVFIDDLE | as in AIPS, allows zoom, pseudo-color contours or black and white enhancement | TVTRAN | black and white enhancement as in AIPS | TVPSEUDO | many pseudo-colorings as in AIPS | TVFLAME | flame-like pseudo-colorings as in AIPS | TVZOOM | interactive zoom magnification and center | CURVALUE | display image intensity, pixel x/y at cursor | SET WINDOW | set sub-image display window | RESET WINDOW | re-set display window to full image ---------------- When a field is displayed, the pixel increments are chosen to load the full field to the TV screen. The TV window is even forced to be bigger to show the image if needed and small fields are interpolated by up to a factor of 3. The Clean boxes for the field are displayed in a graphics overlay. You may select a smaller sub-image of the field for display in greater detail, but IMAGR does insist that the sub-image includes all Clean boxes for the field. You may use TVBOX or REBOX to create and modify the Clean boxes interactively. Note that these set the number as well as the type and parameters of the boxes. This is currently one of two interactive ways to set Clean boxes for fields numbered > 1. The other is the verb FILEBOX in AIPS. TVBOX: To set the number, type, and parameters of the Clean boxes for the displayed field with a TV graphics display of the boxes as they are being set. The terminal will issue instructions. While setting the lower left corner of each box for the first time, buttons A and B will mark the corner and switch to setting the upper right corner of the box. Button C will change the rectangular box to a circular one and button D will exit. There will be no output boxes if button D is hit in this state on the first box. Similarly, while first setting the center of a circular box, buttons A and B switch to setting the radius, C switches back to a rectangular box, and D exits deleting that incomplete box. While setting or re-setting the upper right corner or radius of the box or re-setting the lower left corner or center, button A marks the current corner and switches to the other corner (or marks and switches between radius and center), button B marks the current corner and switches to the next (new) box, button C marks the current corner and switches to a search mode leading to the resetting of a previous box, and button D exits keeping the current and previous boxes with their current settings. In search mode, move the cursor to any lower left or upper right corner of any already set rectangular box or the center or any point on the circumference of an already set circular box and press button A or B to reset that corner or push button C to go on to the next box. As usual button D exits. REBOX is TVBOX started with the current boxes in a resetting mode. DELBOX allows the deletion of existing boxes. Select the desired box with TV buttons A or B and confirm it with button A. Other instructions will appear. The right-hand columns offer the options: -------------------- | TVBOX | set number of Clean boxes and their parameters interactively | REBOX | modify and add Clean boxes for this field | DELBOX | delete some of the current boxes | CONTINUE CLEAN | Continue Cleaning now, not waiting for the timer to expire | SELECT FIELD nn | Display field nn allowing its Clean boxes to be altered | SELECT NEW FIELD | Prompt for new field number to be displayed allowing its Clean boxes to be altered (> 64 fields) | THIS IS FLD nn | The only field number accessible at this time is nn. | FORCE SDI CLEAN | Force the following Clean to use SDI method | FORCE BGC CLEAN | Force the following Clean to use Clark method | FILTER COMPS | Exit TV and filter all Clean components, then re-compute all fields using new residual data | STOP FLD nn | Mark currently displayed field nn as needing no further Cleaning | ALLOW FLD nn | Mark currently displayed field nn which was stopped earlier as needing more Cleaning | FORCE A FIELD | Prompt for a field number, exit TV, re-compute and display that field with current residual data (if needed) and then Clean that field (when OVERLAP=2 and DOWAIT true) | REMAKE IMAGES | Exit TV and re-compute all fields using the current residual uv data (when OVERLAP=2) -------------------- The SELECT FIELD nn options appear only if there is more than 1 field and only NFIELD of them appear. If you turn off the TV display, you may restart it with TELL from AIPS. The STOP FLD and ALLOW FLD options appear only when OVERLAP=2 and there are multiple fields or scales. **************************************************************** ****************** EXTENDED SOURCE OPTIONS ***************** **************************************************************** Clean normally uses a point-source component model and finds one component at a time. For regions consisting of small-diameter objects this has been found to work well. But, for extended objects, the selection of a point at one pixel biases Clean against selecting points at the adjacent pixels. In the end, a corrugation has been found in which the image is lumpy on a rectangular pattern separated by a few pixels (Schwarz, U. J. 1984, in Indirect Imaging, ed. J. A. Roberts, p 255). In addition, extended emission over a large area may contribute significantly to the total flux, but have low signal-to-noise on a pixel-by-pixel basis at full resolution. This poor S/N further confounds the usual Clean algorithm. There are two solutions proposed for the first problem, one of which also addresses the latter. These are the SDI method found in Steer, D.G., Dewdney, P.E., Ito, M.R. 1984, "Enhancements to the Deconvolution Algorithm 'CLEAN'", Astron.Ap.,137, 159. and the multi-scale Clean one early variant of which is described in Wakker, B.P., Schwarz, U.J. 1998, "The Multi-Resolution Clean and its application to the short-spacing problem in interferometry", Astron.Ap., 200, 312. IMAGR offers variants of both of these methods. The SDI Clean proposes to avoid the bias against adjacent pixels by taking every pixel above a certain level as a component. In the case of a completely uniform "plateau" in the residual image, this would uniformly lower the height of the plateau and each major cycle. The difficulty comes around the edges and irregularities in the plateau. The edge pixels have fewer strong neighbors than the central pixels and so less is subtracted from them than from the central pixels. The result is a bright edge around the plateau in the next residual image. The AIPS task SDCLN uses an iterative method to estimate the different loop gains to be applied to the pixels to avoid the bright edges. IMAGR uses a less expensive and somewhat less effective method. The intent in IMAGR is to Clean with a normal Clark variant of the Hogbom Clean until a significant number of pixels in the residual image are essentially "equal". This is expressed as a crowding of the uppermost levels of the histogram so that the fraction of the pixels in the residual image Clean boxes that are at least half as strong as the maximum residual exceeds some threshold level. IMAGRPRM(4) > 0 specifies that SDI Clean will be used when this fraction exceeds IMAGRPRM(4); a typical value might be IMAGRPRM(4) = 0.2. If the fraction becomes less than this limit at a later step, the BGC Clean will be used until the ratio again falls above the limit. The TV allows you to force the Clean into either BGC or SDI if you started by giving IMAGRPRM(4) > 0. The TV forcing applies only to the next major cycle. SDI Clean selects all pixels from the peak residual down to some fraction of the peak - that fraction is max (IMAGRPRM(19), 0.333) including the defaults for IMAGRPRM(19). The MS Clean attempts to avoid the corrugation and S/N issues by using more than one component diameter in the modeling. In the early 1970's I experimented with using a Gaussian as a component model. This worked well so long as the image contained no sources smaller than the Gaussian. Unfortunately, the sky always contains point sources and the method found these and "painted bulls eyes around them". (The bulls eyes are effectively a sin(x)/x function trying to represent a small thing as a sum of large things.) The Wakker and Schmidt MS Clean used a smoothed image and beam and a difference image and difference beam, doing a fairly normal point-model Clean on each but appropriately subtracting the components found in one image from the other at every iteration. In IMAGR, the MS Clean is truly multi-scale, seeking components of intrinsically different diameters. For component i of diameter Di, a dirty image is formed by convolving a full-resolution dirty image with a Gaussian Gi of diameter Di. This is actually implemented just by making a normal image with an added taper. This dirty image has a point-spread function (dirty point beam) which is the full resolution dirty beam convolved with Gi. However, the response in the dirty image i to a Gaussian component Gi is this dirty point spread function convolved a second time by Gi. Thus DirtyImage_i = DirtyImage_0 * Gi BeamImage_i = BeamImage_0 * Gi * Gi where Gi is a Gaussian of diameter Di, subscript 0 refers to the full resolution image, and * is a convolution. IMAGR uses its large number of fields to implement the MS Clean. If you ask for NFIELD fields and NGAUSS Gaussian components, IMAGR will make and Clean NFIELD*NGAUSS fields, the first NFIELD with width WGAUSS(1), the next NFIELD with width WGAUSS(2), etc. The ordinary parameters such as FLDSIZE, RASHIFT, DECSHIFT are entered only for fields 1-NFIELD and are then replicated for the corresponding fields at the other scales. The Clean boxes may be entered for fields 1-NFIELD and replicated. If BOXFILE is used to enter Clean boxes for a filed number > NFIELD then the boxes from the corresponding field <= NFIELD are not replicated to that field. If you specify BMAJ and BMIN, IMAGR computes the correct values to use for the various component diameters. If you give BMAJ=0, IMAGR fits the beam parameters after one convolution with Gi before recomputing the beam with two convolutions. The MS Clean might attempt to work in other modes, but OVERLAP=2 and DO3DIMAG=TRUE are strongly recommended. If you set DOWAIT=TRUE before starting IMAGR, you will have the desirable option of forcing the Clean to use a field of your choosing rather than the one with the peak flux. The MS Clean is an experimental algorithm and has been provided with a number of "knobs" to adjust its behavior. All the knobs use the ratio of the current beam area (BMAJ(field)*BMIN(field)) to the minimum beam area (R). These knobs are: 1. Show some preference to select higher resolution images (lower R) for the next image to Clean. Otherwise a strong point with some extended emission will be over Cleaned at low resolution, forcing higher resolutions to correct many pixels: IMAGRPRM(11) select which field to Clean using peak fluxes (in Jy/beam) weighted by 1 / R**IMAGRPRM(11). 2. Reduce this preference to zero as one Cleans more and more of the R > 1 fields: IMAGRPRM(12) decrement the initial value of IMAGRPRM(11) used above by IMAGRPRM(12) each time an R > 1 scale field is Cleaned until it is 0. 3. The lower resolution fields may easily over Clean creating zero net flux from a mix of negative and positive areas. These then have to be corrected with numerous high resolution Clean steps. To use a lower loop gain for lower resolution: IMAGRPRM(13) use gain = GAIN / R ** IMAGRPRM(13) 4. To avoid over Cleaning with lower resolution, one may also Clean each major cycle less deeply with the FACTOR parameter. To control FACTOR: IMAGRPRM(14,15) use factor = FACTOR + IMAGRPRM(14) * (1 - R ** IMAGRPRM(15)) Multi-scale experimental control limits: 0 <= IMAGRPRM(11) <= 1.0 not changed by TELL Try 0.5 0 <= IMAGRPRM(12) <= 0.1 changed by TELL Try 0.03 0 <= IMAGRPRM(13) <= 1.0 changed by TELL Try 0.5 0 <= IMAGRPRM(14) <= 1.0 changed by TELL Try 0.1 0 <= IMAGRPRM(15) <= 1.0 changed by TELL Try 0.5 Note that IMAGRPRM(11-15) = 0 causes each Clean to be done on the field with the highest Jy/point-source-beam with the same GAIN and FACTOR. The author (Eric Greisen) of this option conceived this current algorithm while listening, at the AIPS++ Imaging Workshop in July 1999, to Mark Holdaway describe his work done with Tim Cornwell. Their "multi-scale" Cleans, according to Mark's vu-graphs, use images at various smoothings to determine which scale currently has the most flux. The "cross-beams" used for subtraction indicate that extended components are used in the modeling, so long as the (i,i) cross beam is used for image i on itself (a point on which I was confused). Their algorithms, as described, are done all in the image plane which avoids some of the over-Cleaning problems, while IMAGR's is done by the Cotton-Schwab scheme of subtracting the model visibilities in the visibility plane and re-imaging. **************************************************************** ************ WIDE-FIELD, WIDE-BAND CORRECTIONS ************* **************************************************************** Frequency Dependent Primary beam corrections: If multiple, widely-spaced frequencies are used in a making a single image then the differences in the primary beam size can vary significantly with frequency. This causes problem in Cleaning objects far from the pointing center as the primary beam differences cause the subtraction of the combined model from the visibility data at the different frequencies to be incorrect. There will be residuals in the visibility data that cannot be Cleaned as the data does not correspond to a possible sky brightness distribution. If IMAGRPRM(1) is larger than 0 then a correction is made in the subtraction to remove the effects of the frequency dependence of the primary beam. The primary beam is assumed to be a uniformly illuminated disk of diameter IMAGRPRM(1) meters. This correction is made out to the 5% power point of the beam with a flat correction further out. Note: this correction is only for the relative primary beam to correct to a common frequency and DOES NOT correct for the primary beam pattern at this frequency. Simple Correction for Spectral Index: If the sources observed do not have a flat spectrum then the source spectrum will have effects on the Cleaning of a similar nature to the frequency dependent primary beam problem described above. This problem does not depend on position in the field except in the the spectral index can vary across the field. In general the spectral index does vary in an image but in many cases the spectral index is usually closer to -.7 than to 0. To the degree that the structure in the field can be characterized by a single spectral index the amplitudes of the data can be scaled to the average frequency. Before imaging the amplitudes of the uv data are scaled to the average frequency using a spectral index of IMAGRPRM(2). For optically thin synchrotron sources this spectral index is typically between -0.6 and -1.0. This correction cannot remove the effects of variable spectral index but allows a single correction. Error in the Assumed Central Frequency: If the frequency used to compute the u, v a, w terms is in error then there will be a mis-scaling of the image due to this error. Central frequencies are frequently computed on the basis of unrealistic models of the bandpass shape. If IMAGRPRM(3) is larger than 0 it is assumed to be a frequency scaling factor for the u, v, and w that is to be applied before imaging. Array Mis-orientation Effects Images made with a coplanar array not oriented towards the instrumental zenith will have a distortion of the geometry which increases in severity away from the phase tracking center. For non-coplanar arrays the image is distorted rather than just the geometry. VLA snapshots are misaligned coplanar arrays whereas VLA synthesis images cannot be considered to be made with a coplanar array. Images made with misaligned coplanar arrays can be corrected using task OHGEO to remove the effects of this misalignment. This correction requires the knowledge of the observing geometry; in particular, the average parallactic and zenith angles. IMAGR computes these values and leaves then as header keywords where OHGEO can use them. Scaling residuals In general the units of the residuals are different than those of the restored components; either being Jy per beam area. If the dirty beam area is similar to the restoring beam area then this effect is negligible. Similarly, if the Clean has proceeded well into the noise then this difference is of little consequence. However, if there is significant un-Cleaned flux left in the image then this difference may be important. If IMAGRPRM(5) > 0 then IMAGR will attempt to scale the residuals to the same units as the restored components. The principle difficulty is determining the effective area of the dirty beam. Operationally this is done inside a box centered on the peak in the beam with half-width IMAGRPRM(6) in x and IMAGRPRM(7) in y. **************************************************************** *********** BASIC MX EXPLAIN FILE ALTERED SOME ************* **************************************************************** IMAGR: Task which makes and Cleans a map from UV data on disk using AP DOCUMENTERS: W. Cotton NRAO (mostly from UVMAP and APCLN) G. Langston NRAO E. W. Greisen, NRAO RELATED PROGRAMS: UVLOD,UVSRT,APCLN,UVMAP,BLOAT,HORUS,RSTOR PURPOSE IMAGR combines the functions of mapping, Cleaning and subtracting components from the un-gridded uv data (ie. the functions of UVMAP, APCLN and UVSUB). Because the Clean components are subtracted from the un-gridded data, the entire region of a map can be Cleaned; as opposed to the method used in APCLN which can only Clean a quarter of the map area. Data in an arbitrary sort order may be deconvolved. IMAGR permits up to 4096 independent fields in the antenna beam and 46655 frequency channels to be mapped and Cleaned in one execution. Multi-band data can be gridded together before mapping. If the machine crashes before the end of the execution IMAGR should be fairly easily restartable. IMAGR is recommended over UVMAP and APCLN for the following problems: (1) Snap-shot observations with a small number of visibility points run much faster with IMAGR than UVMAP and APCLN when only the region with the source is mapped. With IMAGR there is no need to confine the source to the inner quarter area of the mapped region, although the source should not extend to the boundary of the field of view. (2) For observations at low frequency and at high sensitivity. Radio emission is often detected over the entire primary beam. It is then prohibitively expensive to make and Clean one large map. IMAGR will permit you to choose up to 4096 rectangular fields in the sky, map each and then simultaneously Clean the entire set. It is often possible to choose a small number of fields which contains virtually all of the radio emission so that the total area processed by IMAGR will be relatively small. IMAGR is particularly valuable for radio maps which contain a few "confusing" sources at large angular distance from the source of interest. In order to determine the appropriate parameters for IMAGR, first make a very low resolution map in order to determine the approximate location and size of each of the rectangular fields. Insert the appropriate parameters of the fields into IMAGR and run the task at the desired resolution. (3) Only IMAGR can produce and Clean 8192x8192 maps at the present time. Make sure you have enough disk space to make these maps! (4) Use IMAGR if you need >1000:1 dynamic range for a relatively extended source. By subtracting components from the un-gridded (u-v) data, aliasing of side-lobes inside the field of view is avoided. Finally, components very far from the phase center but near the field center, will be subtracted from the (u-v) data with the proper w-phase terms. (5) IMAGR can average frequency channels in the gridding process by gridding each channel independently onto the same grid; this reduces the delay smearing problem in the maps to the amount due to the individual channel rather than the total bandwidth. This option can also be used to smooth line maps as the number of channels to grid together and the channel increment is independent. (5) Only one Stokes' Parameter map can be made with one execution. If you must have identical coverage for your I, Q, U or V maps, use UVMAP. However, any differences among the different Stokes' parameters are usually minimal. IMAGR is superior to MX and WFCLN in its (1) ability to calibrate input data, (2) advance data weighting options (3) truly interactive DOTV option (4) wide-field correction options. (5) 3D imaging (6) SDI method Cleaning option (7) Clean component filtering (8) Multi-scale option ADVERBS PECULIAR TO IMAGR Most of the adverbs used by IMAGR are duplicates of those used by UVMAP and APCLN and need no further explanation. The adverbs peculiar to IMAGR are: IN2NAME, IN2CLASS, IN2SEQ, IN2DISK IMAGR keeps a scratch file with the current uv data with the current list of components subtracted. This file is cataloged and may be examined after IMAGR is run to look for questionable data points. Unlike MX, IMAGR cannot be restarted with the work file although the disk file itself may be re-used for new data or for a restart in which components 1-BCOMP are subtracted from the input (by IMAGR) before a new image is made. The IMAGR uv work file will, in general, be different in some ways from the original input data and may give difficulties to some of the existing uv data handling routines. The data will be in the form of a single Stokes' (or circular) polarization with the selected frequency channels and IFs being imaged ("summed") into one grid. The data will have been selected by the criterion given explicitly or implicitly to IMAGR. The weights will have the uniform weighting correction made. CHANNEL This adverb, if >0, is used to restart IMAGR. If CHANNEL=N, then restart IMAGR at frequency channel N (N=1 for continuum). When restarting a Clean, use BCOMP as described below. NCHAV The number of channels to be combined on the same grid before mapping. Use this option to obtain one map from several channels of uv data at slightly different frequencies. Up to 2048 channels can be combined in the gridding stage. CHINC The number of (u-v) planes to skip between maps. If NCHAV>1, CHINC refers to the first plane going into the map. STOKES Only one Stokes' parameter can be made at one time. A beam is made for each polarization and each frequency channel. BIF,EIF These define the first and last IFs to be included in a bandwidth synthesis average. An IF consists of a set of one or more equally spaced frequency channels; multiple IFs with arbitrary frequency spacings are allowed. IMSIZE The minimum desired size for all of the fields. The limits are 32x32 to 8192x8192 and must be a power of 2. The adverb FLDSIZE define the region over which Clean components are searched for. NFIELD The number of independent fields to map. Up to 4096 are permitted for each frequency channel specified by BCHAN, ECHAN and CHINC. Each field comes out as a separate cataloged file. Clean components subtracted from one field will not be restored to other fields even if the images overlap. FLDSIZE, RASHIFT, DECSHIFT For each independent field, specify the center of the field by its RA offset and DEC offset in arc-seconds from the phase center. A positive RA and DEC offset means that the field center is East and North of the phase center. The FLDSIZE is the area in each image where Clean components will be searched for. It is limited to the range 32x32 to 8192x8192 but need not be a power of 2. The output image size will be increase to the next power of 2 or to IMSIZE if it is larger. For maps smaller than 256x256, the size may be doubled for more accurate Cleaning. NBOXES, CLBOX (TVBOX), BOXFILE For the first field, up to 50 Clean windows can be specified via CLBOX as an alternate to FLDSIZE. This allows more flexibility than a single window centered on the phase center. If NBOXES is greater than 0 then the contents of CLBOX are used to specify the input window. Since these values are in pixels care should be taken that they are determined from an image made with the same cell size and shift. NOTE: the values contained in CLBOX are not used to determine the size of the image for field 1. IMSIZE and/or FLDSIZE must be used for this. In the case that CLBOX and NBOXES are used, this is the only use made of FLDSIZE for field 1. Its use for higher numbered fields is unaffected. If CLBOX is all 0, the value of FLDSIZE (or its default) is used for CLBOX. NBOXES and CLBOX specify the size and location of the rectangular or circular boxes comprising the "Clean Window" area A. You make the best use of prior knowledge about the source to help IMAGR do its job when you restrict A as closely as possible to the true boundaries of its emission. Recall that Clean attempts to optimize F(n) as a representation of the sky, with zeroes everywhere else. The more information you provide about where the "real" emission is, the more likely IMAGR is to converge on a unique, credible solution. The interactive options of IMAGR provide a powerful means to adjust this information as the Clean procedes. Rectangular boxes are given by 4 numbers represent the x and y lower left corner and the x and y top right corner. Circular boxes are specified by four numbers giving -1, the radius, and the x and y of the center. The verb TVBOX may conveniently be used to set the number of and parameters of the boxes. Following a prompt on your terminal, position the TV cursor at the BLC of the first CLBOX and press any track-ball button. Then position the cursor at the TRC of this box and press button B. Repeat this for all desired boxes. This will fill the CLBOX array for the IMAGR inputs. The terminal prompt will also give instructions for resetting any previously set corners should you need to do so. Note: since IMAGR will remake the image, be sure to run TVBOX on an image made with the same cell size and shift as will be used for IMAGR. The BOXFILE adverb may be used to specify the name (and existence) of an input text file of Clean box definitions . This is a text file containing the coordinates of Clean boxes for all fields. Up to MIN (2048, 131072 / NFIELD) boxes per field may be specified in the text file. Do so one box per line, as field #, blc-x, blc-y, trc-x, trc-y (5 integers), e.g. 1 200 205 220 222 1 230 232 240 241 2 100 100 130 121 or, for circular areas, as field #, circular code (-1), radius, center-x, center-y, (5 integers) e.g. 2 -1 14 80 75 3 -1 21 128 129 1 -1 5 175 175 ... Fields with no boxes specified default to the size specified by IMSIZE and FLDSIZE (see above). If any boxes for field one appear in the file, then NBOXES and CLBOX are completely overridden. Otherwise, those adverbs are used for field 1. You are allowed to have blank and comment lines in the file. The latter are indicated by putting a non-numeric character in column one. E.g, BOXFILE 'FITS:BOXES' Verb FILEBOX may be of help in preparing this text file. The BOXFILE may also be used to specify the FLDSIZEs and center coordinates or shifts for some or all fields. See the help file above. If BOXFILE = ' ', NBOXES and CLBOX apply. BCOMP The default (BCOMP=0) restarts the Clean from scratch. Other values of BCOMP are used when IMAGR is to be restarted from an intermediate step in the process. When set >0, it specifies the maximum number of components from each subfield of a previous Clean to be subtracted from the uv data to obtain the residual map for the first new iteration. Each value in BCOMP corresponds to a field. Restarts are sometimes needed after the computer has crashed during a long IMAGR. Under these circumstances, the iteration number at the end of the last major cycle is stored in the AIPS Clean components file headers. Provided that the crash has not destroyed relevant image files (or the CC extension file) on disk, the Clean may be restarted by setting BCOMP equal to the number of iterations shown in the image header for the Clean map - if this disagrees with the number in the internal file header (as may happen if the crash comes at an unfortunate point in a cycle), AIPS will adjust BCOMP downwards in a "fail-safe" way. (PRTCC might be run to check the state of the components list in such cases). To restart IMAGR Cleaning from a set of fields set BCOMP to the highest of the number of Clean components from the set. When you set BCOMP>0, you must set the OUTNAME and OUTSEQ parameters explicitly to those of the Clean Map(s) whose CC extension file(s) contains the components which are to be subtracted. You must also set OUTVER to the CC version number of those files. (Otherwise, it will use a new CC file which starts with nothing in it.) This Clean Map file will be overwritten by the new Clean Map, so if you wish to preserve it you should either write it to tape using FITTP or create a second copy of it on disk using SUBIM. NOTE: there is one CC file per output frequency channel with version number = output channel number. A components file F(N) can be re-convolved with a different Clean Beam H by restarting IMAGR with NITER=BCOMP=n. This is an effective tool for making SMALL changes in the resolution of a Clean Map. Do NOT use it for making large (factors >2) changes in resolution, e.g. to "find" extended components of a source. If a structure has been resolved out over the longer baselines, these baselines contribute only noise, not signal, to maps of that structure, and should be excluded from any search for the structure. Cleaning a noisy map and then convolving it to much lower resolution makes no sense. In such cases, you should re-map with an appropriate taper and run IMAGR on a dirty map with a more appropriate resolution. BMAJ, BMIN, BPA IF BMAJ is less than zero, the output image will be the residual image without the Clean components restored. Examining this image for waves or other artifacts is helpful for finding bad UV data. The task RSTOR can quickly restore the Clean components. CMETHOD IMAGR has two different routines for computing the model visibility from the Clean components. The first ('DFT ') method does a direct Fourier transform of the Clean components for each visibility point. This method probably gives slightly better accuracy but can be slow if there are many components and/or visibilities. (See TIMING section for more detail). The second model computation method is to grid the Clean components, do a hybrid DFT/FFT ('GRID') onto a grid and interpolate each visibility measurement from the grid using (currently) ninth order Lagrange interpolation and a uv grid with half the spacing of the mapping grid. This method is called the gridded-FFT method and CAN be MUCH faster than the DFT method for large data bases and large numbers of components. Since the w correction must be done for each field separately the length of time this routine takes is proportional to the number of fields in which there are Clean components in any major cycle. To increase the accuracy of the interpolation, the size of the model grid used for the interpolation is twice the size of the data grid for images up to 2048x2048. This means the output scratch files (three of them) may be four times the size of the largest output file. CMETHOD allows the user to specify the method desired or to allow IMAGR to decide which one will be faster. CMETHOD equal to ' ' (or any values but 'DFT 'or 'GRID') indicates that the decision is left to IMAGR, CMETHOD = 'GRID' causes IMAGR to use the gridded-FFT method and CMETHOD = 'DFT ' forces IMAGR to use the DFT method. In cases where there are bright, localized regions far from the map center (eg. strong hot spots in double lobed sources) the gridded subtraction may be inadequate. The principle failure should be to over estimate the brightness of the bright regions far from the map center (should be under a percent) and slightly increase the noise elsewhere. This problem will be greatly reduced if the first few major cycles use the DFT subtraction method until the brightest regions are removed. If CMETHOD is set to ' ' the first few major cycles will probably use the DFT. EXAMPLES OF COMMON IMAGR PARAMETERS 1) Emulate UVMAP and APCLN: Set the appropriate parameters for normal UVMAP and APCLN execution. To emulate a 1024x1024 map and with a Clean of the inner 512x512 (500X500) use the following adverbs; IMSIZE=512; NFIELD=1 FLDSIZE=500; RASHIFT=0; DECSHIFT=0 NITER=200; CMETHOD=''; UVWTFN='UN' IMAGR will effectively Clean nearly all of a 512x512 map with 200 iterations. IMAGR will decide (CMETHOD='') which of the two component subtraction methods is most economical. For a data base with less than about 1,000,000 data points, IMAGR will run much faster than UVMAP and APCLN on a 1024x1024 map. Furthermore, the Cleaning subtraction in IMAGR is more accurate than that in APCLN. Uniform weight was chosen to give highest resolution. 2) Piecemeal mapping and Cleaning using IMAGR Set the usual input and output parameters, then IMSIZE=128; NFIELD=3 FLDSIZE=32,32,256,256,20,20 RASHIFT=-40,5,200 DECSHIFT=120,2,400 UVWTFN='NA' NITER=500; CMETHOD='' IMAGR will produce the following set of maps. a. 64x64 map centered on (-40",120") with Clean components searched in the inner 32x32 area. b. 256x256 map centered on (5",2") with Clean components searched over the entire 256x256 area. c. 64x64map centered on (200",400") with Clean components searched over the inner 20x20 area. d. 256x256 beam centered on (0",0"). The beam size is taken to be the size of the biggest map or 1024, whichever is smaller. It may be best to choose Natural weighting for the UV weight function. In making relatively small fields over a wide area, Natural weight emulates the resolution and signal to noise of a single map made over the wide area. The uniform weighted map for the 64x64 fields may be several times more noise than the naturally weighted map. 3) IMAGR used with a multi-frequency u-v data base. A range of spectral channels to image can be given by BCHAN and ECHAN which are the low and high channel numbers to be imaged in the the input file. If CHINC is greater than 1 then every CHINC'th channel is selected between BCHAN and ECHAN. If NCHAV is greater than 1 then NCHAV channels will be averaged starting with each channel selected by BCHAN, ECHAN and CHINC. If IMAGR needs to be restarted then CHANNEL specifies the first channel that needs to be processed. An image and a beam are made for each channel. There is a limit of 46655 channels in an output image. The default value for BCHAN is 1, for ECHAN is BCHAN, CHINC is 1 and NCHAV is 1. Example: BCHAN=1; ECHAN=6; NCHAV=2; CHINC=2; STOKES='I' Will cause channels 1&2, 3&4, 5&6 to be combined and imaged using the Stokes' I polarization data. Prudence If running IMAGR on a complicated source with low GAIN you may need to work to large final values of NITER. As IMAGR is the major consumer of CPU time in most map analyses, it is prudent to preserve intermediate Clean maps by writing them to a FITS tape with FITTP. This allows you to recover from disasters such as crashes, over Cleaning, etc. with minimal impact on total execution time, your time, and on disk space. GENERAL COMMENTS General comments concerning mapping and Cleaning follow. Most of the comments have been taken from the EXPLAIN files for UVMAP and APCLN. MAPPING IMAGR makes dirty maps and beams from (u,v) data using a Fast Fourier Transform (FFT). The data may be in any sort order. The data are convolved onto the regularly spaced grid which is used for the Fourier transform. Maps of several frequency channels, and a beam, can be made with one execution. One polarization per execution. A fairly complete description of the mapping functions performed by IMAGR is given in Lecture 2 of the Proceedings of the NRAO-VLA Workshop on Synthesis Mapping. Observers who are unfamiliar with interferometry are recommended to study this volume. OUTDISK : If OUTDISK = 0, the map and beam will be put on the same disk. FLDSIZE,IMSIZE,CELLSIZE : For effective Cleaning of the maps, the number of pixels per beam should be such that the pixel value immediately north or east of the beam center is no less than about 50% of the peak. However, if tapering is used, the outlying (u,v) points may not have any significant weight in the map. Strong aliased sources should be Cleaned in separate fields unless they are close to the object of interest. IMAGR will make maps which have a power of two pixels on a side; between 32 and 4096 on the X-axis and between 32 and 4096 on the Y-axis. FLDSIZE defines the region to be searched for Clean components. If for some reason it is desirable to map a region much larger than the region being Cleaned, IMSIZE can specify the minimum size of a map. Components will be Cleaned from the region specified by FLDSIZE but the output image size will be as specified by IMSIZE. Values in IMSIZE must be powers of 2. STOKES : If you do not expect your source to show significant circular polarization, as is normally the case with galactic and extra-galactic continuum sources, making a V map can be a useful diagnostic for calibration problems, correlator offsets, etc. The V map should be a pure noise map close to the theoretical sensitivity if your data base is well calibrated and edited. UVWTFN : The default uniform weighting option gives higher resolution than natural weighting. However, uniform weighting gives a lower signal to noise ratio. Natural weighting is therefore preferable for detection experiments. With uniform weighting the dirty beam size decreases slightly with larger maps, other parameters remaining unchanged. In cases of very centrally condensed uv coverage such as that resulting from the VLA in the D array uniform weighting with a UVBOX greater than 0.0 may be desirable. [SEE ALSO the long section above on IMAGR's weighting options.] ZEROSP : To improve Cleaning of extended sources, the zero-spacing flux should be included in IMAGR. The weight assigned should normally be about the same as for other data samples - or better yet = const/sigma**2, where the weights of the other samples are the same constant divided by the square of their uncertainties. Inclusion of the zero-spacing flux will allow Clean to interpolate into the inner region of the (u,v) plane more accurately, provided that this flux does not exceed the average visibility at the short spacing by too much. You must also Clean deeply to derive the full benefit of this (see the EXPLAIN file for APCLN). XTYPE,YTYPE : The default convolution function Spheroidal (5) is now recommended for nearly all maps. Cleaning IMAGR de-convolves a dirty beam from a dirty map image using the Clean algorithm [Hogbom 1974] as modified to take advantage of the Array Processor [Clark 1980] and doing the subtraction from the un-gridded uv data. Clean iteratively constructs discrete approximant F(n) to a solution F of the convolution equation: B^F = D (1) where D denotes the discrete representation of the dirty map, B of the dirty beam, the symbol ^ here denoting convolution. The initial approximant F(0)=0 everywhere. At the n'th iteration, Clean searches for the extremum of the residual map R determined at the (n-1)'th iteration: R(n-1) = D - B^F(n-1) (2) A delta-function "Clean component", centered at this extremum, and of amplitude g (the loop GAIN) times its value, is added to F(n-1) to yield F(n). The search over R is restricted to an area A called the "Clean window". A is specified as a number NFIELD of rectangular sub-areas. Iterations continue until either the number of iterations n reaches a preset limit N (=NITER), or the absolute value of the extremum of the residual map decreases to a preset value FLUX. If FLUX is negative, the Clean stops at the first negative Clean Component. To diminish any spurious high spatial frequency features in the solution, F(N) is normally convolved with a "hypothetical" Gaussian "Clean Beam" H to construct a final "Clean Map" C: C = H^F(N) + R(N) (3) The Clean beam H may be specified by the user through the parameters BMAJ, BMIN, BPA, or it may be defaulted to an elliptical Gaussian fitted to the central region of the dirty beam B. IMAGR writes the array of "Clean Components" F(N) to the CC extension files of the Clean map image file. The Clark algorithm speeds up the deconvolution process by splitting it into "major" and "minor" iteration cycles. At the beginning of the m'th major cycle, it loads into the AP a RESTRICTED residual map R'(m) containing only the LARGEST (positive and negative) values in the current residual map R(m). It then performs a "minor" cycle of iterations wherein new Clean components are sought with (a) the restricted residual map R'(m) replacing the full residual map R and (b) the dirty beam B being approximated by its values inside a small area (the "beam PATCH") with zeroes outside. A minor cycle is terminated at iteration n' when the peak in the restricted residual map R'(n') falls to a given multiple [Clark 1980] of the largest value that was ignored in R(m) when R'(m) was passed to the the AP. At the end of the cycle of minor iterations, the current Clean component list F(n') is Fourier transformed, subtracted from the un-gridded uv data, re-gridded and FFT-ed back the map plane, thereby performing step (2) EXACTLY with the components list F(n') obtained at the end of the minor cycle. Errors introduced in the minor cycle through use of the restricted beam patch are corrected to some extent at this step. This ends the m'th major cycle, the (m+1)th beginning when the new restricted residual map R'(m+1) is loaded into the AP. Cleaning ends (with the transform steps used at the end of a major cycle) when either the total number of minor iterations reaches NITER, or the residual value being Cleaned at a minor iteration reaches FLUX. Prussian Hats When dealing with two-dimensional extended structures, Clean can produce artifacts in the form of low-level high frequency stripes running through the brighter structure. These stripes derive from poor interpolations into un-sampled or poorly sampled regions of the (u,v) plane. [When dealing with quasi one-dimensional sources (jets), the artifacts resemble knots (which may not be so readily recognized as spurious)]. IMAGR invokes a modification of Clean that is intended to bias it towards generating smoother solutions to the deconvolution problem while preserving the requirement that the transform of the Clean components list fits the data. The mechanism for introducing this bias is the addition to the dirty beam of a delta-function (or "spike") of small amplitude (PHAT) while searching for the Clean components. [The beam used for the deconvolution thereby resembles the helmet worn by German military officers in World War I, hence the name "Prussian Helmet Clean"]. The theory underlying the algorithm is given by Cornwell (1982, 1983), where it is described as the Smoothness Stabilized Clean (SSC). Don't Clean =================== If there is so little signal in your map that no side-lobes of any source in it exceed the thermal noise, then no side-lobe deconvolution is necessary, and Cleaning is a waste of your time and of CPU cycles. General - You can help Clean when you map =============================================== Other things being equal, the accuracy of the deconvolution process is greatest when the shape of the dirty beam is well sampled. When mapping complicated fields, it is often necessary to compromise between cell size and field of view; if you are going to Clean a map image, you should set up your mapping parameters in IMAGR so that there will be at least three or four cells across the main lobe of the dirty beam. It is also important to make the Cleaned region large enough that no strong sources whose side-lobes will affect your map have been aliased by the FFT. This can be done by making a small map field around each confusing source. Consider making a strongly tapered map of a wide field around your source at low resolution to diagnose confusion before running IMAGR on a high resolution map(s) (especially when processing snapshot data from the lower VLA frequencies). It is helpful to regard Clean as an attempt to interpolate missing samples in the (u,v) plane. The accuracy of the interpolation is greatest where the original sampling is dense or where the visibility function varies slowly. The accuracy is least where you ask Clean to Extrapolate into poorly sampled or un-sampled regions of the (u,v) plane where the visibility function changes rapidly. One such region is the center of the (u,v) plane in any map made from data where all of the fringe visibilities were less than the integrated flux density of the source. You can help Clean to guess what may have happened in the center of the (u,v) plane (and thus to guess what the more extended structure on your map should look like) by including a zero-spacing flux density when you make your map. This gives Clean a datum to "aim at" in the center of the (u,v) plane. Extended structure can often be reconstructed well by deep Cleaning when the zero-spacing flux density is between 100% and 125% of the average visibility amplitude at the shortest spacings. If your data do not meet this criterion, there may be no RELIABLE way for you to reconstruct the more extended structure. (Some cases with higher ratios of zero-spacing flux density to maximum visibility amplitude can be successfully Cleaned, but success is difficult to predict). If you see an increase in the visibility amplitudes on the few shortest baselines in your data, but not to near the integrated flux density, you may get better maps of the FINE structure by excluding these innermost baselines. Another un-sampled region lurks in the outer (u,v) plane in many VLA maps of sources at declinations south of +50, if the source has complicated fine structure. To see why, consult the plots of (u,v) coverage for the VLA in Section 4 of the "Green Book" [Hjellming 1982]. At lower declinations, some sectors of the outer (u,v) plane are left poorly sampled, or un-sampled, even by "full synthesis" mapping. (There are missing sectors in the outer (u,v) plane in ANY snapshot map). If the visibility function of your source has much structure in the un-sampled sectors, Clean may work poorly on a high resolution map unless it gets good "clues" about the source structure from the well-sampled domain. If the clues are weak, badly extrapolated visibilities in the un-sampled regions can cause high frequency ripples on the Clean map. In such cases, Clean may give maps with better dynamic range if you are not too resolution-greedy, and restrict your data to the well-sampled "core" of the (u,v) plane. Before applying Clean, examine your (u,v) coverage and think whether you will be asking the algorithm to guess what happened in such un-sampled regions. Frailties, Foibles and Follies ============================== There are excellent discussions of Clean's built-in idiosyncrasies by Schwarz (1978, 1979), by Clark (1982) and by Cornwell (1982). Another way of looking at Clean is to think of it as attempting to answer the question "What is the distribution of amplitudes at the Clean component positions [F(N)] which best fits the visibility data, if we define the sky to be blank everywhere else ?" The algorithm can then be thought of as a "search" for places where F should be non-zero, and an adjustment of the intensities in F(N) to obtain the "best" agreement with the data. The re-convolution of F(N) with the hypothetical "Clean beam" H produces a "Clean map" C whose transform is no longer a "best fit" to the data (due to differences between the transforms of H and of the dirty beam B). The merit of the re-convolution is that it produces maps whose noise properties are pleasing to the eye. It may also be used to "cover up" instabilities in Clean stemming from poor extrapolation into the un-sampled regions of the (u,v) plane, by making H significantly wider than the main lobe of B. Note also that step (3) of the standard Clean combines this re-convolution with the residual map, which contains faint sky features convolved with the DIRTY beam B. If there is significant signal remaining in the residual map, the effective resolution of the Clean Map C varies with brightness. You must therefore be particularly careful when comparing Clean maps made at different frequencies or in different polarizations; you should Clean all such maps sufficiently deeply that the integrated flux density in the Clean components F(N) is much greater than that in the residual map R(N). A recurrent question about Clean concerns the uniqueness of the Clean Map. In the absence of noise, Clean could adjust the amplitudes of the components in F(N) to minimize the rms difference between the observed visibility function and the transform of F(N) [Schwarz 1978, 1979]. If the number of degrees of freedom in F(N) is less than the number in the data, Clean can (and in many practical cases does) converge on a solution that is sensibly independent of your input parameters. Noise and approximations in the algorithms complicate this [Cornwell 1982], but realize that the solution CANNOT be unique if the number of positions at which you end up with Clean components exceeds the number of independent (u,v) data points. Be suspicious if your Clean Map contains structures which resemble those of the dirty beam. This may mean either that you have not Cleaned deeply enough,or that Clean has had difficulty in some un-sampled sector of the (u,v) plane in your case. This test is particularly important in the case of snapshot maps,for which the side-lobes of the dirty beam have a pronounced star (snowflake) structure. GAIN and NITER The depth to which Clean carries out its deconvolution is approximately measured by the product NITER*GAIN. The first CC extension file version corresponds to the first output frequency channel. A value of 0 for NITER is recognized to indicate that no Cleaning is desired. In this case the dirty beam is always the size of the largest field and the CLASS of the output images are "IIMnnn" rather than "ICLnnn". The value of NITER and the execution time needed to reach a given Cleaning depth are minimized by setting GAIN = 1.0, but setting GAIN > 0.5 is recommended only when removing the side-lobes of a single bright unresolved component from surrounding fainter structure. Note that TELL may be used to lower the GAIN after the first major cycles have removed the bright point objects. When Cleaning diffuse emission, GAIN = 0.1 (the default) will be much better, for the following reason. The search step of the algorithm begins its work at the highest peak (which in an extended source may be a random noise "spike"). After one iteration, the spike is replaced in R by a negative beam shape, so the next highest peaks are more likely to be found where the spike would have had its biggest negative side-lobes [see the diagram on p.11 of Clark (1982)]. If GAIN is high, subsequent iterations tend to populate F(n) around the negative sidelobe regions of the highest peaks. This "feedback" can be turned off by making GAIN small enough that the negative sidelobes of the first peaks examined in an extended structure are lost in the noise, i.e. GAIN * (worst negative sidelobe level) < signal-to-noise on the extended structure. In practice setting GAIN << 0.1 makes Clean unacceptably slow (NITER too large for a given Cleaning depth) so a compromise is needed. GAINs in the range 0.1 to 0.25 are most commonly used. If the source has some very bright compact features embedded in weaker diffuse emission, it is illuminating to examine the Clean Map when only the brightest structure has been Cleaned, to check whether subsequent Cleaning of weaker diffuse emission causes it to "go lumpy" via the sidelobe feedback effect. This could be done with GAIN = 0.3-0.5, using either NITER or the FIELD selection to ensure that the search does not stray into the extended emission. Then IMAGR can be restarted with lower GAIN, higher NITER and wider fields to tackle the diffuse structure. TELL may be used to lower the gain during execution of IMAGR. If the weak emission "goes lumpy" you may need to rerun IMAGR with different combinations of GAIN and NITER to find the most effective one for your particular case. Ultimately you will stop IMAGR when the new Clean component intensities approach the noise level on your map. On a map of Stokes I, the appropriate stopping point will be indicated by comparable numbers of positive and negative components appearing in the CC list. On maps of Stokes Q and U, which can and will be legitimately negative, you need to know the expected sensitivity level of your observation to judge how deep to go. It is NEVER worth increasing NITER and restarting IMAGR once many negative Clean components appear in the CC list of an I map. When this occurs, you are using Clean to shuffle the noise in the residual map, which is about as sensible as rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic after it hit the iceberg. FLUX This provides an alternative to NITER for terminating the iterations in a given run of Clean. In practice, most users prefer to control Clean by limiting each execution with NITER or the TV. FLUX should then be set to your expected rms noise level times the dynamic range of the dirty beam (peak/worst sidelobe), to ensure that you do not inadvertently waste time iterating to a high value of NITER while in fact Cleaning emission whose sidelobes are lost in the noise. If FLUX is negative, its actual value is ignored, but the Cleaning stops with the first negative component. BMAJ, BMIN, BPA The default values of 0 for these parameters invoke an algorithm whereby the central portion of the dirty beam B is fitted with an elliptical Gaussian function whose parameters are then used to specify the Clean Beam H. The algorithm can be "fooled" by positive or negative sidelobes near the main lobe of B, and has been known to prescribe unsatisfactory forms for H, particularly for snapshot maps. It is normally preferable to specify BMAJ, BMIN and BPA explicitly from your own examination of the dirty beam, or after a trial fit using the default. The Clean Map C may be easier to interpret if BMIN is set equal to BMAJ, so that H is a circular Gaussian, and any elongated structures are therefore seen in their correct orientation. The frailties of Clean's deconvolution will be least apparent if both are set equal to the LONGEST dimension of the dirty beam. Attempts to "super resolve" the source by setting BMAJ and BMIN to the SHORTEST dimension of the dirty beam (or shorter) skate on the proverbial thin ice, the more so if the number of Clean components in F(N) is comparable to, or larger than, the number of independent visibility data used to make the dirty map. Note that if BMAJ, BMIN and BPA differ greatly from those of the main lobe of the dirty beam, the parts of the Clean Map derived from F(N) and from R(N) at step (3) will have greatly different resolutions. This is very dangerous if R(N) contains significant residual emission. If BMAJ is set <0, then the output map contains the residual map R(N) instead of the Clean map C. This option allows you to display, take hard copy of, or back up, the residual map while deciding further strategy, retaining the ability to regenerate the Clean Map later. NFIELD, FLDSIZE A practical detail: when NFIELD=1 and FLDSIZE specifies an area <= 127 by 127, the entire residual map can be loaded into an AP with 64k, and Clean can proceed very efficiently. This speeds up execution enormously. If NFIELD>1, even if the area in the fields adds up to less than 127 by 127, this economy is lost. A particularly large economy in run time is achieved when this default is used with 128 by 128 (or smaller) maps. In the 128 by 128 case not only will the Clean Window default to 128 by 128, but the necessary FFTs can be done entirely within the AP; under these circumstances IMAGR proceeds at a headlong gallop. FACTOR This knob protrudes from the inner workings of the Clark algorithm, enabling the user to vary the criterion [Clark 1980] by which minor iteration cycles are ended. [For those with an interest in the gory details - IMAGR first notes the ratio between the brightest point which was ignored when the residual map R'(m) was passed to the AP and the maximum residual R'(n') at some later iteration n'; it then uses the Clark criterion with this ratio raised to the power FACTOR replacing unity in Clark's summation]. FACTOR = 0 (the default) recovers the Clark criterion. FACTOR > 0 allows the minor cycles to go on longer, speeding up the Clean slightly (about 20% for FACTOR = 1), but allowing you to get closer to the situation where residuals R' in the AP become smaller than values which were ignored when the AP was loaded. The search for new components becomes less and less accurate (compared with a Hogbom algorithm using all of R in step (2)), and the representation of extended structure in the final F(N) deteriorates. FACTOR < 0 makes the termination criterion more conservative and thus improves the accuracy of the Cleaning at the expense of forcing more major cycles with a corresponding overhead in the FFTs done at the end of each one. It is recommended that experiments with FACTOR normally be confined to the range -0.3 < FACTOR < +0.3, negative values being used when Cleaning complex extended structures, and positive values when Cleaning very simple compact structures. MINPATCH This parameter specifies the minimum half-width of the beam patch that will be allowed in a minor cycle. A smaller beam patch allows the Clean to go faster at the expense of less accurate subtraction at each iteration. The inaccuracy can lead to errors which will not be recovered completely at the end of the major cycle, especially if high GAINs are used or the source has complex structure. MINPATCH=51 is recommended for Cleaning complicated sources. If the BEAM has large sidelobes far from the beam center, the MINPATCH should be as large as possible (<= 1024). (The BEAM often has large sidelobes for VLA snap-shot images.) The beam patch and the residuals to be Cleaned in each minor iteration must fit in the (pseudo) AP memory. This may limit the number of pixels Cleaned when MINPATCH is large. This is not a consideration on most modern computers where we set the AP size to 1 Megaword or more. DOTV Use of DOTV > 0 is STRONGLY recommended when Cleaning a source for the first time. It causes the residual maps to be displayed on the TV after each major cycle and allows you to interact with them. See the initial section of this explain for the new IMAGR TV options. When Cleaning a very complicated source for the first time, it is often worth going beyond this interactive approach, by taking hard copy of various stages of the Clean to compare carefully later. Consider setting NITER to a value in the range 50-200 at first. Then take hard copy of the lightly Cleaned map for later reference, and restart IMAGR with a higher value of NITER. Doing this increasing NITER by factors of order 2 each time can be very instructive in showing you what Clean is doing to the extended structures in your source. Spectral line users may wish to Clean a typical channel in this way before deciding how best to parameterize IMAGR for their production runs. (Note that the trial channel should be reanalyzed using the final choice of parameters, for consistency; IMAGR's final Clean maps depend in detail on the relative numbers of major and minor cycles which have been performed). Sorting of UV data: IMAGR will sort data into XY order if needed to fit the weighting, data gridding (for FFT), or model gridding (for gridded model subtractions in Clean) into the available "AP" memory without multiple passes through the uv data. REFERENCES Proceedings of the NRAO-VLA Workshop on Synthesis Mapping 1982, ed. A.R.Thompson and L.R.D'Addario. Clark, B.G. (1980). "An Efficient Implementation of the Algorithm "Clean", Astron.Ap., 89, 377-378 Clark, B.G. (1982). "Large Field Mapping", Lecture #10 in the NRAO-VLA Workshop on "Synthesis Mapping" Cornwell, T.J. (1982). "Image Restoration (and the Clean Technique)", Lecture #9 in the NRAO-VLA Workshop on "Synthesis Mapping" Hjellming,R.M. (1982). "An Introduction to the NRAO Very Large Array", Section 4. Hogbom,J.A. (1974). "Aperture Synthesis with a Non-Regular Distribution of Interferometer Baselines",Astron.Ap.Suppl., 15, 417-426 Schwarz, U.J. (1978). "Mathematical-statistical Description of the Iterative Beam Removing Technique", Astron.Ap.,65, 345. Schwarz, U.J. (1979). "The Method "Clean" - Use, Misuse and Variations", in Proc. IAU Colloq. No.49, "Image Formation from Coherence Functions in Astronomy", ed. C. van Schooneveld, (Dordrecht:Reidel), p. 261-275. Cornwell,T.J. (1982). "Can Clean be Improved ?",VLA Scientific Memorandum No. 141. Cornwell,T.J. (1983). "A Method of Stabilizing the Clean Algorithm", preprint.