Use of the Pulsar Timing Programs

PSRTIME COMMANDS

This is a list of most of the commands and the syntax required. For a fuller description type help at the prompt in psrtime or look at /psr/help/psrtime.

 

 
 
 
 
 

 

ABCDE FGHIJ K LM N OP Q RS T U V W X Y Z 

 

Command

Syntax

Description
ALIGN - 
AVERAGE The AVERAGE command is used to group arrival times together so that when the residuals are calculated the residuals for each group are averaged. There is no effect on the arrival times themselves and the averaging may be removed at any time by the CLEAR command. Averaging is shown by the residual number in the SHOW BAT display, which has the same value for each time which contributes to that residual. 
AVERAGE AUTOMATICALLY 
OVER time [ range ]		 Automatic averaging means that all times within a certain time of each other are averaged together, provided that they are from the same site and have the same frequency ( within a tolerance set by FREQTOL ). The averaging timescale must be provided. Range is defined as for the SHOW commands.
e.g. AVERAGE AUTOMATICALLY OVER 3 HOURS FROM 83/01/01 TO 83/01/31
AVERAGE CLEAR Clears all arrival time averaging. The same as the CLEAR AVERAGING command.
AVERAGE MANUALLY range In manual averaging the range of times must be specified for each averaged point. Range is as for the SHOW commands.
e.g. AVERAGE MANUALLY FROM 3 TO 6
BAT The BAT command is used to correct the site arrival times in the range specified from START to FINISH to the solar system barycentre.The ephemeris used is based upon the MIT ephemeris PEP311. (* The MIT ephemeris is now out of date*)
Use JPLBAT (with qualifier DE200 or DE405) to use an ephemeris based upon the JPL ephemerides (default DE200)
The barycentric arrival times may be displayed using the SHOW BAT command or listed on the current output file using the PRINT BAT command. Similarly lists of the corrections made to the site arrival times and of the earth ephemeris may be obtained with SHOW or PRINT CORRECTIONS or EPHEMERIS.
BINARY OFF or ON The effect of BINARY ON is to include in the list of program parameters and in the residual computation the orbital parameters for a pulsar in a binary system. These are PBINARY, EPBINARY, ASINI, OMEGA and ECCENTRICITY. They are described with the other parameters under the SET command.
Fitting to the binary parameters is controlled by the relevant FIT.... switches in the parameter list.
CLEAR The CLEAR command is used to reset or clear various store areas or parameters used by the program.
CLEAR PROGRAM resets the program parameters to their defaults. 
CLEAR BAT clears the barycentric arrival times.
CLEAR SAT clears the site arrival times.
CLEAR AVERAGE clears arrival time averaging.
CLEAR ALL performs all the above functions.
CONVERT The CONVERT command will be used to directly convert times, periods and frequencies between site and barycentric frames.
CURSOR The CURSOR command enables a user to use a dialog box to manipulate and fit models to their data. The idea is to be able to access all of the psrtime commands by clicking on buttons, check boxes or a graphical representation of your data.
When the user types "cursor", the dialog appears on the current graphics device. The default graphics may be set with the environment variable PGPLOT_DEV. If this has not been set, or a different device is required, type the command 
> graphics begin /pgplotdevice
before typing cursor.
The screen is subdivided into three basic regions. These are the loading data region, the fitting data region, and the plotting region.
The loading data region is in the top left hand corner. Use of this region is optional, but can be useful.
The Fitting data region is in the top right hand corner. The plotting region is the bottom two-thirds of the dialog screen.
CURSOR Loading_data To load data, one can either use basic psrtime commands, or use the load button. To use the load button simply press on it whilst the cursor is above it. PSRTIME will then obey the command file with the name XXXXXXX.dat where XXXXXXX is the editable string above the load button (usually the pulsar's name). It is up to the user to create this file. If one creates a file called XXXXXXX.eph that contains the pulsar ephemeris this will be obeyed when the restore defaults button is pressed.
CURSOR Fitting To fit a model to your data, the user presses the "fit uaf Plot" button. This will then execute the psrtime commands fit, update all from fit , and plot. 
The pulsar parameters with their check boxes set will be fit for. To toggle these, place the cursor over them, and click a mouse button (or any key).
Show fit shows the fit.
Wr fit writes out the fit.
Show psr performs the psrtime command show psr.
Change parameters brings up a new dialog with all of the psrtime parameters on it, ready for editing. To return to the main dialog press the quit button.
CURSOR Plotting_region The plotting region is the bottom two-thirds of the dialog. Plots appear on the right-hand side of this region. To plot the data, one clicks the plot button. To plot over the whole range of bats, hit the full plot button. One can either plot against phase or epoch by selecting the appropriate radio control. If you want error bars, select the error bars box. Once a plot has appeared, you can use the cursor to perform numerous operations. Simply select the appropraite cursor mode and then click inside the plot.
  • Start. Sets the start time of the plot (can be used in either window) 
  • Finish. Sets the finish time of the plot (can be used in either window) 
  • Rectangular_delete. Click twice in the window. These two points define a rectangle. All points in the rectangle are then deleted. 
  • Delete. Deletes the bat nearest to where you clicked. 
  • Plus_or_minus. These place a step in your data equal to the pulsar period. Doesn't redraw the data to saev time when introducing many steps on slow terminals. 
  • Macro. A new series of macro facilities has been added. The user can define any of the numeric keys 0-9 to be a macro, executable by pressing the appropriate key when in cursor mode. The function of the macro is defined by a series of symbols macro0, macro1 etc which can be defined by the user at any time. For example, the user could define the symbol macro1 such 
    • >symbol macro1="show bat ibat"
    then when in cursor mode pressing the 1 key would identify the nearest bat. When the user presses a key inside the plot the symbol ibat is set to the bat number of the nearest bat. libat is set to the bat number of the previous bat. The symbols XX and YY are set to the x and y position where the user clicked. Lxx and Lyy are set to the last place that the user clicked. 
  • Zoom. Zooms in on the bats by the appropriate zoom factor. 
  • Unzoom. Unzooms out on the bats by the appropriate zoom factor. 
  • BAT_ID. Identifies the nearest BAT. 
  • QUERY. When enabled, writes information to ../queries.txt about TOAS selected by left clicking. 

    •  

     
     
     
     
     
DELETE range The editing commands (DELETE and RESTOREmay be used to edit the arrival times (SATS or BATS) held by PSRTIME. The command has the form
DELETE /RESTORE range
where the range is specified by one or more of the following.
sat single arrival time or date/time.
FROM sat1 TO sat2 range of times or date/times.
FREQUENCY FROM freq1 TO freq2 range of frequencies in Mhz.
ERRORS ABOVE value all times with errors greater than a certain value.
SITE site_name all times from a certain site.
SOURCE source_name all times from a certain source.

sat is a date/time or arrival time number
If a range or list of ranges is prefixed by EXCEPT then all times except those included in the range are edited. 
Editing_SATS/BATS See the DELETE and RESTORE commands.
EXIT The EXIT command is used to leave the current command level. If it is used in the highest level, the program exits.
FIT The FIT command is used to perform a fit to the barycentric arrival times specified in the range START to FINISH. The form of the fit is controlled by the program parameters which are described fully under the SET command.
FITWAVE   The FITWAVE command fits a wave to long period timing noise in current residuals. It may followed by the command update wave from fit"
Setting various parametersSET configures the fit eg:
  • set harmonics xx (default 10)
  • set poly on (default off ie fits a series of harmonics, poly on fits a set of xx polynomial coeffs.)
  • set plotwave on/off (to show or hide wave, default on)
  • set removewave on/off (remove wave from toas, default off)
See also write wave and read wave.
FITWRAP <period range> The FITWRAP command is used to perform a fit to the barycentric arrival times when probable period wraps exist in the residuals relative to the present parameters.
where <period range> is the maximum period error likely in the data and is used to calculate the maximum number of period wraps (if any) which may exist in the residuals between adjacent points. FITWRAP then uses repeated FITs after inserting all possible combinations of wraps in the residuals. It chooses the FIT with the smallest rms residual. The residuals left are those for the original parameters, but with the wraps removed.
GO The GO command is a quick way of performing the following command sequence 
      if (  there are no barycentric times ) then
            if (  a BAT file is specified ) then
                  READ BAT
            else
                  if (  there are no site arrival times ) then
                        READ SAT
                  endif
                  BAT
            endif
      endif
      FIT
GRAPHICS Allows the setting of various parameters concerned with plotting, in general the parameters are as defined by PGPLOT
GRAPHICS SET GRDEVICE  The graphics device is set by default to the value of the environment variable PGPLOT_DEV (default xwin). The graphics device can be set to any of the standard output devices, but if a customised output is required then SET GRDEV ? will wait for a prompt both for whether you require a customised output, and to input the required output device.
GRAPHICS SET IGRCLUTTER Switch for titles and scales on display.
If  IGRCLUTTER =0  then only draw box
else if  IGRCLUTTER =1 draw box and labels
IGRCLUTTER =2 titles
GRAPHICS SET HARDDEV  Sets the hard copy device
GRAPHICS SET LIN_WID Sets the line width 
GRAPHICS SET LIN_STY Sets the line style 
GRAPHICS SET FONT  Sets the font
GRAPHICS SET CHR_HT  Sets the character height
GRAPHICS SET PG_ASK  switches automatic new page.
GRAPHICS SET XPIC Sets the number of plots in the X direction
GRAPHICS SET YPIC  Sets the number of plots in the Y direction
HELP <command> The HELP command allows access to the PSR help facility from within a pulsar program. The command automatically accesses the part of the HELP file relevant to the program or program section being used.
e.g. in PSRTIME
SHOW> HELP is equivalent to HELP PSRTIME SHOW and will give a description of the SHOW command with a list of its options.
SHOW> HELP SATS will give a description of the SAT listing
INPUT The INPUT command is used to allow the input of site arrival times, barycentric arrival times, sites and sources from the command input.
INPUT SAT <date>
<time> <error/us>
<source name>
<site> <freq>		 This command enters a SAT into the program's SAT list (see SHOW SATS ).
If an INPUT SOURCE,INPUT SITE,INPUT FREQ command has been entered previously for a set of SATS the respective values above may be omitted and then the source/site/freq will be taken as the values INPUT earlier. If the <source name>&/;<site> values ARE included on the command line then the SAT will be given those values.
BUT...
If an INPUT FREQ command has been made ALL subsequent arrival times input will be tagged with it and the <freq> field above will be ignored.This is a special case to correct frequency errors.
INPUT BAT <date><time> This reads in a Barycentric Arrival Time into the program. It must have been preceeded by INPUT SITE,INPUT SOURCE or INPUT FREQ command.If either the time or date is omitted it will default to the time or date of the BAT previously input.
INPUT BAT TRAIN
<interval> <ephemeris>		 This forms a regular sequence of BATs beginning at time START at the specified repetition interval (in days) until the time FINISH. These new bats are added on to any existing BATs. The usual data attributes such as SOURCE, SITE and FREQ must all be INPUT before this command is obeyed. The ephemeris used is either MIT,JPL or PEP.
INPUT SITE 
site_name
[rho*cos(lat) rho*sin(lat) longitude]		 where rho is the distance from the Earth centre, lat and long are the latitude and longitude relative to Greenwich (in hours). If no coordinates are given, the program will search its internal list for the values. (type SHOW SITES).Once a site has been input the values may not be edited ;subsequent INPUT SITE commands for the same name will just set that Site name for the input of SATS and BATS.
INPUT FREQUENCY <frequency> where frequency is the radio observing frequency in MHz. Any further arrival times read in will be assigned this frequency until another frequency is input.
INPUT SOURCE name [ Ra Dec DM [ Period Pdot Epoch ] ] where the units of DM are pc/cm**3, Period (secs), Pdot is x10**-15 and epoch in days from JD 2400000.5.
The values are entered into a SOURCE TABLE (type SHOW SOURCES). Only the first 3 values are needed for correcting SATS to the Barycentre.If NO words follow the source name,a CATALOGUE is read for all 6 values (this takes a few minutes) otherwise the RA ,Dec and DM (and optionally Period ,Pdot and Epoch ) are entered as provided . Hence a table entry will contain either the first 3 values or all 6. Table entries for a source may NOT be altered or added to once they are read in.
Subsequent INPUT SOURCE commands for the same source name will set that source for the input of SATS and/or BATS (see the HELP entries).
INPUT CORRECTION <time> where time(secs) is a quantity which will be added to all SATS or BATS subsequently read. This facility permits the data to be adjusted for such things as clock corrections.
JPLBAT The JPLBAT command is used to correct the site arrival times in the range specified from START to FINISH to the solar system barycentre. The ephemeris used is based upon the JPL ephemeris DE200. (adding qualifier DE405 to force DE405 epehemeris). Use BAT to use an ephemeris based upon the MIT ephemeris PEP311. (now obsolete).
The barycentric arrival times may be displayed using the SHOW BAT command or listed on the current output file using the PRINT BAT command. Similarly lists of the corrections made to the site arrival times and of the earth ephemeris may be obtained with SHOW or PRINT CORRECTIONS or EPHEMERIS.
JPL_Ephemeris This section describes the earth ephemeris used by PSRTIME for the computation of timing corrections using the JPL ephemeris. The data is stored on the file given by the environment variable JPLEPH and is accessed by the routine PLEPH. Goto xxxxx for more details.
LSQFIT The LSQFIT command is similar to the FIT command except that it uses a restricted fitting routine which fits to PERIOD and PDOT only.
The FIT.... switches used to control the standard fit have no effect on this fit.
OBEY file
[ repeat_count = n ]		 The OBEY command is used to read commands from a file.
where file ( default filetype .DAT ) contains a list of commands and the repeat_count, which is optional, causes the file to be obeyed n times.
PARAMETERS The PARAMETERS command lists the name, description and value of all the parameters in the current parameter set. The available parameters are described under HELP SET.
The PARAMETERS command may be given in response to any command prompt.
PLOT The PLOT command computes the residuals using the current parameters and produces a graphical plot of the residuals. The abscissa of the plot may be specified thus:
PLOT AGAINST option
where option is one of DAYS, ORBITS and PHASE ( default DAYS ). The ORBITS and PHASE options produce plots folded at the binary period.
The user will first be asked if the plot is required to be customised. If the answer is YES, it is possible to make the vertical residual scale cover any range the user wishes or to inhibit the plotting of error bars. Finally, a device type is requested. For hardcopy devices, the resulting file must be sent to the appropriate queue and deleted from the operating system prompt (or from within PSRTIME). e.g.
  • lp -d caxton pgplot.ps
  • lpr -Piris pgplot.cps
PRINT The PRINT command is used to send output to the current output file.
PRINT SAT range Produces a list in which the following is given for each site arrival time : 
      Arrival time number
      Date
      Time       ( UT )
      Error      ( us )
      Source name
      Site name
      Frequency  ( MHz )
The range of times to be listed is specified by the number given in the first column of the lists, and may have the form
number ( for a single entry )
FROM number TO number ( for a range if the FROM/TO is omitted the start/end of the list is assumed )
If the range is omitted the whole list is produced.
PRINT SITES range Produces a list in which the following is given for each site 
      Site number
      Site name
      R*cos(lat)  ( mean earth radii )
      R*sin(lat)  ( mean earth radii )
      Longitude   ( hours of time )
PRINT SOURCES range Produces a list in which the following is given for each source. 
      Source Number
      Source name
      Right Ascension
      Declination
      Dispersion measure
... and optionally : 
      Period
      Pdot
      EPOCH
if they had been entered into the source table (see INPUT SOURCE ).
PRINT BAT range Produces a list in which the following is given for each barycentric arrival time  
      Arrival time number
      Date
      Time
      Error     ( us )
      Source name
      Site name
      Frequency ( MHz )
      Residual number
PRINT CORRECTIONS range Produces a list in which the following is given for each barycentric 
      Arrival time number
      Date
      Time
      Light travel time from site to SSB           )
      Light travel time from site to earth centre  ) All in
      Dispersion delay                             ) seconds
      Gravitational & Doppler corrections          )
PRINT EPHEMERIS range Produces a list in which the following is given for each barycentric arrival time 
      Arrival time number
      Earth coordinates in x,y,z relative to SSB         ( AU )
      Earth velocity components in x,y,z relative to SSB ( ?? )
PRINT RESIDUALS range Produces a list in which the following is given for each barycentric arrival time included in the last fit 
      Residual number
      Date
      Time      ( TAI )
      Error     ( us )
      Site name
      Frequency ( MHz )
      Residual  ( us )
      Corresponding barycentric arrival time number
PRINT PSR Produces a list of the current pulsar PARAMETERS.
PRINT FIT Produces a summary of the last performed fit to the arrival times.
PRINT STATISTICS Produces a table of the actual and percentages of CPU and elapsed times used by the program, divided between various parts of the processing.
PRINT OUTFILE
PRINT ABORT Deletes the current output file.
PRINT QUEUE name Followed by the queue name, this command specifies the print queue to which the output file is to be sent. The output file is printed either when a new output file is created or upon EXITing the program.
If the queue name is NONE or NULL then the output file is not printed.
PRINT DELETE ON/OFF Followed by ON or OFF, this switch determines whether the output file is deleted after printing.
PRINT SHOW Displays the current state of the output file, i.e. its name, size, the print queue and the value of the delete switch. This display may also be produced by the command SHOW PRINT.
READ The READ command is used to read arrival times from a file.
READ SATS 
[ FROM file ] 
[ IN format FORMAT ]		 where file is the file of site arrival times, if not given the filename in SATFILE is used. format is the format of the site arrival times, OLD for old format NEW or TRANSFER for new format written by Circe for transfer ( default ).
e.g. READ SATS IN OLD FORMAT
( n.b. filename obtained from SATFILE )
READ SATS FROM CRAB
( filetype SAT and new format are assumed )
READ SATS 
[ FROM file ] 
[ IN OLD FORMAT ]		 This allows a list of SATS to be read, interspersed with information concerning such things as the observing site, the radio frequency of observation and the source. After these have been declared in the file all SATS read in subsequently will be tagged with this information, unless they are changed. e.g. 
          SITE PUSCHINO 0.576187 0.817318 -2.508333
          FREQ 102.746
          SOURCE 0136+57
          84/10/03 01:13:24.070
          84/10/04 01:09:29.000
          84/10/05 01:05:33.000
          SOURCE 0138+56 01:38:24.12  56:23:00  45.3  .........
          84/09/20 02:06:26.949
          CORR -1.000
          84/09/21 02:02:30.000
SITE site_name [rho*cos(lat) rho*sin(lat) longitude] where rho is the distance from the Earth centre, lat and long are the latitude and longitude relative to Greenwich (in hours). If no coordinates are given, the program will search its internal list for the values.
FREQUENCY  frequency where frequency is the radio observing frequency in MHz.
SOURCE name [ Ra Dec DM [ Period Pdot Epoch ] ] where the units of DM are pc/cm**3, Period (secs), Pdot is x 10**-15 and epoch in days from JD 2400000.5. See HELP INPUT SOURCE for more information.
CORRECTION  time where time(seconds) is a quantity which will be added to all SATS or BATS subsequently read. This facility permits the data to be adjusted for such things as clock corrections.
READ BATS [ FROM file ] where file is the file of barycentric arrival times, if not given the filename in BATFILE is used.
e.g. READ BATS FROM CRAB ( filetype BAT is assumed )
READ TEMPO[ FROM file ] [format] where file is the file of site arrival times, if not given the filename in SATFILE is used. and format is an optional qualifier specifying the format of the site arrival times (Options are parkes, princeton, effelsberg, epping). Default format is PSRPROF/TEMPO
For all formats, a 'C' as the first character on a line indicates a comment line. Columns are delimited by space(s).
e.g. READ TEMPO FROM PSRAV ( filetype tpo is assumed ) READ TEMPO FROM TOAS.SAT EPPING
READ WAVE Reads Timing noise parameters from xxxxx.wav
READ TEMPO[ FROM file ] DEFAULT The format for data if no site option is given is intended for data produced by PSRPROF or TEMPO. 
      Column 1: SAT number
      Column 2: Source name
      Column 3: Frequency in MHz
      Column 4: SAT
      Column 5: SAT fraction of phase
      Column 6: Error in SAT
      Column 7: Date as YYMMDD (not used)
      Column 8: Site letter
Any further columns are ignored.
READ TEMPO[ FROM file ] EFFELSBERG The format for Effelsberg data is: 
      Column 1: Site letter
      Column 2: Source name
      Column 3: Frequency in MHz
      Column 4: SAT
      Column 5: Error in SAT
      Column 6: Date as YYMMDD (not used)
Any further columns are ignored. 
READ TEMPO[ FROM file ] EPPING The format for Epping data is: 
      Column 1: SAT number
      Column 2: ?
      Column 3: ?
      Column 4: Frequency in MHz
      Column 5: SAT
      Column 6: SAT fraction of phase
      Column 7: Error in SAT
Column 8: Site letter Any further columns are ignored. 
READ TEMPO[ FROM file ] PARKES The format for Parkes data is: 
      Column 1: Info
      Column 2: ?
      Column 3: ?
      Column 4: Frequency in MHz
      Column 5: SAT
      Column 6: SAT fraction of phase
      Column 7: Error in SAT
      Column 8: Site letter
Any further columns are ignored. 
READ TEMPO[ FROM file ] PRINCETON The format for Parkes data is: 
      Column 1: Site letter
      Column 2: SAT Number
      Column 3: Source name
      Column 4: Frequency in MHz
      Column 5: SAT
      Column 6: Error in SAT
Any further columns are ignored.
RESIDUALS The RESIDUALS command computes the residuals for the barycentric arrival times in the range from START to FINISH using the current values of the pulsar ephemeris.
The residuals may be listed using the SHOW RESIDUALS or PRINT RESIDUALS commands or plotted using the PLOT command.
RESTORE See Editing Sats/Bats 
SAVE The command SAVE filename allows subsequent commands to be saved on the file filename ( default filetype .DAT ). All commands typed are written to the file until a further SAVE or SAVE END.
SCAN The SCAN command scans through the current parameter set. For each parameter the user is prompted with a description of the parameter and its current value. He may respond with either a new value, RETURN to leave that parameter unchanged and move to the next one, or CONTROL Z to leave it unchanged and exit from the scan.
SET PARAMETER [VALUE] The SET command is used to alter one of the parameters in the current parameter set. The command should be followed by the parameter name, its new value and the units of that value. If no unit is given the new value is assumed to be in the same units as the old one. 
SATFILE is the name of the file of site arrival times. The default file type is .SAT 
BATFILE is the name of the file of barycentric arrival times. The default file type is .BAT 
OUTFILE is the name of the output file which may be written to using the PRINT command. The default file type is .OUT 
WEIGHTS is a switch which determines whether the sigmas read in from the arrival time file are used to weight the points in the fit. 
DIFFERENCES is a switch which determines whether the LMM fitting routine uses differences rather than gradients when performing the arrival time fitting.
FITEPOCH is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the timing epoch
FITPERIOD is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the pulsar period 
FITPDOT is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the pulsar period derivative
FITPDDOT is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the pulsar period second derivative.
FITPOSN is a switch which requests that the fit should include a fit to the pulsar position. It overrides the setting if FITRA and FITDEC.
FITRA is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the pulsar Right Ascension.
FITDEC is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the pulsar Declination.
FITDM is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the pulsar Declination.
FITDDOT is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the first derivative of DM
FITEXPA is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the residual exptl amplitude
FITEXPT is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the residual exptl timescale
FITEXP2A is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the 2nd residual exptl amplitude
FITEXP2T is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the 2nd residual exptl timescale
FITPMRA is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to theFit Proper Motion in RA
FITPMDEC is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to theFit Proper Motion in DEC
FITPBIN is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the pulsar binary period
FITEPBIN is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the epoch of the binary parameters
FITASINI is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the binary semi-major axis
FITOMEGA is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the longitude of periastron of the binary system.
FITECCEN is a switch which determines whether the fit includes a fit to the eccentricity of the binary system.
FITALLBIN is a switch which requests that the fit should include a fit to all the binary parameters. It overrides the effect of the individual switches for the binary parameters.
FREQTOL contains the tolerance used when averaging in order to decide whether two arrival times have the 'same' frequency and may be averaged. It may be set in MHz or in percent.
SOURCE contains the name of the source.
START is the date/time at which processing of arrival times is to start. When arrival times are read in, START is set to the site arrival time of the first time. It may be updated to restrict the range of the data. It is used by the BAT, RESIDUALS, FIT and PLOT commands and updated to the actual time of the first data point. A value a -1 puts the start at the earliest TOA
FINISH is the date/time at which processing of arrival times is to finish. When arrival times are read in, FINISH is set to the site arrival time of the last time. It may be updated to restrict the range of the data. It is used by the BAT, RESIDUALS, FIT and PLOT commands and updated to the actual time of the last data point. A value a -1 puts the start at the latest TOA
EPOCH EPOCH is the date/time for which the values of PERIOD and PDOT apply. When arrival times are read in, EPOCH is set to midway between START and FINISH. The UPDATE EPOCH command may be used to update the value of EPOCH and to change the pulsar period and its derivatives accordingly.
The epoch and any other date/time parameters may be entered as :
  • <DATE> <TIME>
  • or <TIME> <DATE>
  • or (JD-2400000.5) +UT (in days)
  • or <BATNO>
where <TIME> is in UT HH:MM:SS and <DATE> YY/MM/DD or where <BATNO> is less than 40000
PERIOD The pulsar period at EPOCH.
PDOT The pulsar period derivative at EPOCH
PDDOT The pulsar period second derivative
DM The pulsar dispersion measure.
DDOT The pulsar dispersion measure derivative at PEPOCH
SCATTER The delay due to interstellar scattering at 408 MHz.
RA The pulsar Right Ascension at epoch 1950.0.
DEC The pulsar Declination at epoch 1950.0.
PMRA The Proper Motion in RA
PMDEC The Proper Motion in DEC
POSEPOCH Epoch for Proper Motion
EXPAMP Residual expntl amplitude
EXPTIME Residual expntl timescale
EXP2AMP 2nd Residual expntl amplitude
EXP2TIME 2nd Residual expntl timescale
EXP3AMP 3rd Residual expntl amplitude
EXP3TIME 3rd Residual expntl timescale
PBINARY The period of the binary orbit
EPBINARY The epoch of periastron passage of the binary system
ASINI The semi-major axis of the binary system ( in units of time )
OMEGA The longitude of periastron
ECCENTRICITY The eccentricity of the binary system
REMOVEWAVE Enable/disable removal of long period timing noise using data in xxxx.wav file. The command set infil xxxx should be used to indicate the name of the wav file if working from the command line prompt. (Added 26/9/2001).
POLY Swap wave and polynomial fitting OFF=WAVE (Default)
PLOTWAVE Plot current wave
HARMONICS Number of harmonics to use in wave fitting
INTEPOCH Use nearest integer for START/FINISH/EPOCH
IPERHARM set correction for pulsar observed at period harmonic
USEMEDIAN set flg to force median error to be used as min in weighted fit
SHOW The SHOW command is used to display various things.
SHOW EPHFILES Spawns a call to list all *.eph files in current directory
SHOW SAT range Produces a list in which the following is given for each site arrival time : 
      Arrival time number
      Date
      Time       ( UT )
      Error      ( us )
      Source name
      Site name
      Frequency  ( MHz )
SHOW SITES range Produces a list in which the following is given for each site 
      Site number
      Site name
      R*cos(lat)  ( mean earth radii )
      R*sin(lat)  ( mean earth radii )
      Longitude   ( hours of time )
SHOW SOURCES range Produces a list in which the following is given for each source. 
              Source Number
              Source name
              Right Ascension
              Declination
              Dispersion measure
... and optionally : 
              Period
              Pdot
              Epoch
if they had been entered into the source table (see HELP INPUT SOURCE ). 
SHOW BAT range Produces a list in which the following is given for each barycentric arrival time 
      Arrival time number
      Date
      Time
      Error     ( us )
      Source name
      Site name
      Frequency ( MHz )
      Residual number
SHOW CORRECTIONS range Produces a list in which the following is given for each barycentric arrival time 
      Arrival time number
      Date
      Time
      Light travel time from site to SSB           )
      Light travel time from site to earth centre  ) All in
      Dispersion delay                             ) seconds
      Gravitational & Doppler corrections          )
SHOW EPHEMERIS range Produces a list in which the following is given for each barycentric arrival time 
      Arrival time number
      Earth coordinates in x,y,z relative to SSB         ( AU )
      Earth velocity components in x,y,z relative to SSB ( ?? )
SHOW RESIDUALS range Produces a list in which the following is given for each barycentric arrival time included in the last fit 
      Residual number
      Date
      Time      ( TAI )
      Error     ( us )
      Site name
      Frequency ( MHz )
      Residual  ( us )
      Corresponding barycentric arrival time number
SHOW PSR Produces a list of the current pulsar PARAMETERS.
SHOW FIT Produces a summary of the last performed fit to the arrival times.
SHOW PRINT Displays the current state of the output file, i.e. its name, size, the print queue and the value of the delete switch. This display may also be produced by the command PRINT SHOW.
SHOW STATISTICS Produces a table of the actual and percentages of CPU and elapsed times used by the program, divided between various parts of the processing. 
SHOW TIME Displays the current date and time.
SHOW UNITS Displays a list of the units recognised by PSRTIME. 
SHOW parameter range The range of times to be listed is specified by the number given in the first column of the lists, and may have the form
number ( for a single entry )
FROM number TO numbe r ( for a range if the FROM/TO is omitted the start/end of the list is assumed )
If the range is omitted the whole list is produced. 
SORT SATS or BATS The SORT command is be used to sort either site or barycentric arrival times into order firstly by source position and secondly into chronological order.
STEP The STEP command may be used to introduce phase steps of integral numbers of pulsar periods into the residuals prior to FITting. This is to enable a fit to be carried out, without having first to get the model so good that there are no period wraps at all.
STEP date/time periods will cause all residuals after the specified date/time to be increased by the specified integral number of periods. A sequence of several such commands may be used to unwind rotations in the residuals. A FIT command may then be executed and this should home in on the required solution. Note however that no parameters may be changed, or data points editted after doing the initial RESIDUAL calculation or the FIT process will recompute the residuals and all the steps will be lost.
SWAP option set Swaps either two sets of binary parameters or two sets of exponential parameters held in the program.
BINARY Since binary fitting can only be carried out on the first set at a time, this allows the specified set to be swapped with the first and hence the sets to be fitted in an iterative fashion.
EXPONENTIAL Since exponential fitting can only be carried out on two sets of parameters, this allows the specified set to be swapped with the third set.
UPDATE parameter FROM qualifier The UPDATE command is used to update one or more parameters of the pulsar ephemeris.
PERIOD
PDOT
PDDOT
DM
RA
DEC
POSITION both RA and DEC 
BINARY all the Binary parameters
ALL all the above parameters
Each of these commands may be followed by one of the qualifiers
FROM FIT This selects the new parameter values from the fit to the residuals (if one has been made)
FROM CATALOG obsolete!
FROM TABLE The program searches its internal table for a source whose name matches the parameter SOURCE .The parameters RA, DEC, DM will always be available if the source entry is found ;PERIOD, PDOT and EPOCH will be only if the values have been entered into the table. (See HELP INPUT SOURCE ).The search is much faster than for the catalogue.

In addition the period and its derivatives may be updated from the current epoch to a new epoch by the command 

      UPDATE EPOCH  option
and the binary longitude of periastron may be updated from the current binary epoch to a new epoch using 
 UPDATE EPBINARY date/time

The RA and DEC may be updated from the current POSEPOCH epoch to a new posepoch by the command 

      UPDATE POSEPOCH   date/time
WRITE parameter The WRITE command writes times within the current date range to a file. Deleted points are also written such that when read back into the program they are still deleted but may be subsequently restored.
WRITE SATS[ TO file ] where file is the new file of site arrival times.
e.g. WRITE SATS TO CRAB ( filetype SAT is assumed )
This command is not yet available. (Note to me... check)
WRITE BATS[ TO file ] where file is the new file of barycentric arrival times.
e.g. WRITE BATS TO CRAB ( filetype BAT is assumed )
WRITE TEMPO 
<format> [ TO file ]		 where <format> is either PARK*ES or PRIN*CETON and file is the new file of site arrival times.
e.g. WRITE TEMPO PRIN TO CRAB ( filetype TPO is assumed )
This command uses the data stored in the Bat file, and hence will not write out any points that have been deleted. If the 'remove wave' flag is set, the appropriate fitwave correction (adjusted for bat to sat) will be applied.
WRITE FIT
<freq> [TO file]		 Used without options, this command writes the current fit parameters to the 
current satfile (Use SET SATFILE filname or TO file option) in a format 
compatible with being read in by FITORBIT.

The FREQ option writes nu, ndot etc. (default writes p, pdot).

The TO FILE option sets the satfile if this has not been set previously. 
If the filname in this option is different to the current satfile name, 
the old file will be closed and a a new one opened. 

The filename will be given the extension .fit if left blank.
 
WRITE EPHEMERIS  Writes the currently set pulsar parameters into a file in a form suitable to be obeyed. The file name is {pulsar_name}{version}EPH.DAT, where the version string can be optionally specified to create special versions of the ephemeris. the default ephemeris file should not have any version specified.
WRITE OBSCAT Writes the currently set pulsar parameters into the ON-LINE observing catalog. Note this is dangerous!! A log of changes is kept in OBSINFODIR:OBSCAT_CHANGES.LOG. (Note This may be out of date!)
WRITE GRO Writes the present parameters to a file in suitable format for the GRO ephemeris file held in Joe's anonymous directory on PUPPSR.(check this!)
WRITE CAT Writes the present fitted parameters to a file in suitable form for the new catalogue program PSRLIST.
WRITE RESID Writes the current residuals to a file for further processing
WRITE CORRECT [ TO file ] This writes the present parameters to a file suitable for reading by PSRPROF in order to update the pulsar ephemeris to allow rotation of profile data so that the pulse remains at constant phase.
WRITE WAVE Writes the current timing noise fitted wave parameters to file xxx.wav and 256 x&y points decribing the wave to xxx.wavdat
Jun 27, 2001
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