root/trunk/pysynphot/planning/syn_functionality.txt

This document describes the functionality provided by the most
commonly used synphot tasks, and identifies the pysynphot builds in
which they will be supported. It also identifies functionality for
which there are at present no plans to provide pysynphot support.

These identifications are tentative, and are subject to revision after
consultation with INS and after a survey is taken of synphot users
both internal to STScI and in the community.



CALCBAND
Construct bandpasses:
Supported: (in 0.3.x / 17.x)
  from obsmode string
  box (1 angstrom wide)


Not yet supported:  (1.0)
  gauss #137
  lgauss #138 A passband with normal distribution in the logarithm of the
        wavelength.

No plans to support:
  poly: Legendre polynomials
  tilt: Like poly, except mean & fwhm are computed from wavelength

BANDPAR: Not yet supported. (0.7; relevant to 0.9 / OPUS 200x.x)

Should be methods on SpectralElement.
Calculate bandpass parameters: #139
            URESP           Flux (in flam) of a star that produces a response
                            of one photon per second in this passband
            PIVWV           Passband pivot wavelength
            BANDW           Passband rms width
            FWHM            Full width half max of equivalent gaussian
            WPEAK           Wavelength at peak throughput
            TPEAK           Peak bandpass throughput
            AVGLAM          Passband average wavelength
            QTLAM           Dimensionless efficiency
            EQUVW           Passband equivalent width
            RECTW           Passband rectangular width
            EMFLX           Equivalent monochromatic flux

             NAME           PARAMETER
            =======         =========
            REFWAVE         The reference wavelength (set by user, or AVGLAM)
            TLAMBDA         The throughput at the reference wavelength


CALCPHOT:
Should be methods on Observation (and possibly Spectrum, for effstim
only)

Supported?
0.6   #140    EFFSTIM         effective stimulus      (form)
0.7  }        AVGLAM          average wavelength      (Angstroms)
0.7  }        BARLAM          mean log wavelength     (Angstroms)
0.7  }#141    FWHMLAM         FWHM bandwidth          (Angstroms)
0.7  }        RMSLAM          rms bandwidth           (Angstroms)
0.3           EFFLERG         effective wavelength    (Angstroms)

CALCSPEC:
Supported?  yes, no, partial; 
pysynphot build (-- = superceded)
       ----------------------------------------------------------------------
y 0.3    band(str1, ...)              0       Telescope passband
y 0.3    bb(num1)                     1       Black body spectrum
y 0.3    box(num1, num2)              0       Rectangular passband
n --     cat(str1, ...)               1       Read from a catalog of spectra
n --     ebmv(num1)                   0       Galactic extinction curve
y 0.3    ebmvx(num1, str1)            0       Other extinction curves
n 1.0    em(num1, num2, num3, str1)   1       Emission line spectrum
y 0.3    gauss(num1, num2)            0       Normal curve passband
n --     grid (str1, num1)            1       Interpolated spectrum in grid
n 1.0    hi(num1, num2)               1       Hydrogen absorption spectrum
y 0.3    icat(str1, ...)              1       Interpolate in a catalog of spectra
n 1.0    lgauss(num1, num2)           0       Log normal curve passband
y 0.3    pl(num1, num2, str1)         1       Power law spectrum
n >1.0   poly(num1, num2, num3, ...)  0       Legendre polynomial
p 0.3/0.5  rn(spec1, band1, num1, str1)  1    Renormalize spectrum
y 0.3    spec(str1)                   1       Read a spectrum
y 0.3    thru(str1)                   0       Read a passband
n >1.0   tilt(band1, num1, ...)       0       Legendre polynomial product
y 0.3    unit(num1, str1)             1       Constant spectrum
p 0.3/0.5  z(spec1, num1)             1       Redshift spectrum

COUNTRATE:
Supported (0.3):
  - compute the total flux (effective stimulation) in counts

Not yet supported:
- can specify exposure time (--; just multiply)
- flux_tot: total flux through band   (--; duplicates calcphot.effstim)
- refwave: a specifically called out flux (0.7)        }
- flux_ref: the flux at the reference wavelength (0.7) } #143



Obsmode: Not yet supported (0.7)
Fills out a partial obsmode with all its possible completions (#144)

Plband-related functionality: (0.7)

- Add a method to SpectralElement.normalize() (#120)

Showfiles: Supported via a method on bandpass (0.4)

Thermback: (0.7) 
now a special newetc task; should be a method on bandpass
or obsmode (#145)

==No need to support:==
Plband, Plspec: use matplotlib/pylab to directly plot spectra & bandpasses
Genwave: use numpy call to create arrays instead
Grafpath: replaced by showfiles

==Utility programs: no plans to support==
Grafcheck: validates graph table as legitimate
Graflist: utility function on graph table
Mkthru: utility for CDBS reference file construction; no plans to support


==Complex tasks: No plans to support unless requested (> 1.0):==
Fitband, fitgrid, fitspec
Imspec
Plratio, pltrans
Simulators