Python Walkthrough

This section walks through using the MSG Python interface to evaluate spectra and photometric colors for a model of Sirius. The code fragments are presented as a sequence of Jupyter notebook cells, but pasting all of them into a Python script should work also. Alternatively, the entire notebook (including this text) is available in the source distribution at $MSG_DIR/docs/source/user-guide/walkthroughs/python-walkthrough.ipynb.

Preparation

Before starting Jupyter, make sure that you have installed the pymsg package as described in the Quick Start and/or Installation chapters. Also, ensure that the NumPy, Matplotlib and Astropy packages are installed on your system. Finally, confirm that the MSG_DIR environment variable is set.

Initialization

Launch Jupyter, create a new Python3 notebook, and initialize the notebook with the following statements:

[1]:
# Import standard modules

import os
import numpy as np
import astropy.constants as con
import astropy.units as unt
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Import pymsg

import pymsg

# Set plot parameters

%matplotlib inline
plt.rcParams.update({'font.size': 16})

Loading & Inspecting the Demo Grid

For demonstration purposes MSG includes a low-resolution specgrid (spectroscopic grid) file, $MSG_DIR/data/grids/sg-demo.h5[1]. Load this demo grid into memory[2] by creating a new pymsg.SpecGrid object:

[2]:
# Load the SpecGrid

MSG_DIR = os.environ['MSG_DIR']
GRID_DIR = os.path.join(MSG_DIR, 'data', 'grids')

specgrid_file_name = os.path.join(GRID_DIR, 'sg-demo.h5')

specgrid = pymsg.SpecGrid(specgrid_file_name)

This object has a number of (read-only) properties that inform us about the parameter space spanned by the grid:

[3]:
# Inspect grid parameters

print('Grid parameters:')

for label in specgrid.axis_labels:
    print(f'  {label} [{specgrid.axis_x_min[label]} -> {specgrid.axis_x_max[label]}]')

print(f'  lam [{specgrid.lam_min} -> {specgrid.lam_max}]')
Grid parameters:
  Teff [3500.0 -> 50000.0]
  log(g) [0.0 -> 5.0]
  lam [2999.9999999999977 -> 9003.490078514782]

Here, Teff and log(g) correspond (respectively) to the \(\Teff/\kelvin\) and \(\log_{10}(g/\cm\,\second^{-2})\) photospheric parameters, while lam is wavelength \(\lambda/\angstrom\).

Plotting the Flux

With the grid loaded, let’s evaluate and plot a flux spectrum for Sirius A. First, store the photospheric parameters for the star in a dict:

[4]:
# Set Sirius A's fundamental parameters

M = 2.02 *con.M_sun
R = 1.71 * con.R_sun
L = 25.4 * con.L_sun

p = 0.379
d = 1/p * con.pc

# Set photospheric parameters dict

Teff = (L/(4*np.pi*R**2*con.sigma_sb))**0.25/unt.K
logg = np.log10(con.G*M/R**2/(unt.cm/unt.s**2))

x = {'Teff': Teff, 'log(g)': logg}
print(Teff, logg)
9909.16258994498 4.277426775965449

(the mass, radius and luminosity data are taken from Liebert et al., 2005, while the parallax comes from Simbad). Then set up a uniformly-spaced wavelength abcissa for a spectrum spanning the visible range, \(3\,000\,\angstrom\) to \(7\,000\,\angstrom\).

[5]:
# Set up the wavelength abscissa

lam_min = 3000.
lam_max = 7000.

lam = np.linspace(lam_min, lam_max, 501)

lam_c = 0.5*(lam[1:] + lam[:-1])

Here, the array lam defines the boundaries of 500 wavelength bins \(\{\lambda_{i},\lambda_{i+1}\}\) (\(i=1,\ldots,500\)) and the array lam_c stores the central wavelength of each bin.

With all our parameters defined, evaluate the observed flux using a call to the pymsg.SpecGrid.flux() method, and then plot it:

[6]:
# Evaluate the observed flux

F_obs = (R/d)**2*specgrid.flux(x, lam)

# Plot

plt.figure(figsize=[8,8])
plt.plot(lam_c, F_obs)

plt.xlabel(r'$\lambda ({\AA})$')
plt.ylabel(r'$F^{\mathrm{o}}_{\lambda}\ ({\rm erg\,cm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}\,\AA^{-1})$')
[6]:
Text(0, 0.5, '$F^{\\mathrm{o}}_{\\lambda}\\ ({\\rm erg\\,cm^{-2}\\,s^{-1}}\\,\\AA^{-1})$')
../../_images/user-guide_walkthroughs_python-walkthrough_11_1.png

(See equation (7) of the MSG Fundamentals chapter to understand the origin of the expression for F_obs). The plot looks about right — we can clearly see the Balmer series, starting with H\(\alpha\) at \(6563\,\angstrom\).

Plotting the Intensity

Sometimes we want to know the specific intensity of the radiation emerging from each element of a star’s surface; an example might be when we’re modeling a rotationally distorted star, whose surface geometry and properties vary with latitude. For this, we can use the pymsg.SpecGrid.intensity() method.

Here’s a demonstration of this method in action, plotting the specific intensity across the H\(\alpha\) line profile for ten different values of the emergence direction cosine \(\mu=0.1,0.2,\ldots,1.0\).

[7]:
# Set up the wavelength abscissa

lam_min = 6300.
lam_max = 6800.

lam = np.linspace(lam_min, lam_max, 100)

lam_c = 0.5*(lam[1:] + lam[:-1])

# Loop over mu

plt.figure(figsize=[8,8])

for mu in np.linspace(1.0, 0.1, 10):

    # Evaluate the intensity

    I = specgrid.intensity(x, mu, lam)

    # Plot

    if mu==0.1 or mu==1.0:
        label=r'$\mu={:3.1f}$'.format(mu)
    else:
        label=None

    plt.plot(lam_c, I, label=label)

plt.xlabel(r'$\lambda ({\AA})$')
plt.ylabel(r'$I_{\lambda}\ ({\rm erg\,cm^{-2}\,s^{-1}}\,\AA^{-1}\,sr^{-1})$')

plt.legend()
[7]:
<matplotlib.legend.Legend at 0x7ff643465670>
../../_images/user-guide_walkthroughs_python-walkthrough_13_1.png

We can clearly see that limb-darkening in the line core is much weaker than in the continuum — exactly what we expect from such a strong line.

Evaluating Magnitudes & Colors

As a final step in this walkthrough, let’s evaluate the magnitude and colors of Sirius A in the Johnson photometric system. We can do this by creating a new pymsg.PhotGrid object for each passband:

[8]:
# Load the PhotGrids

PASS_DIR = os.path.join(MSG_DIR, 'data', 'passbands')
filters = ['U', 'B', 'V']

photgrids = {}

for filter in filters:
    passband_file_name = os.path.join(PASS_DIR, f'pb-Generic-Johnson.{filter}-Vega.h5')
    photgrids[filter] = pymsg.PhotGrid(specgrid_file_name, passband_file_name)

(for convenience, we store the pymsg.PhotGrid objects in a dict, keyed by filter name). In the calls to the object constructor pymsg.PhotGrid(), the first argument is the name of a specgrid file (here, the demo grid), and the second argument is the name of a passband file; a limited set of these files is provided in the $MSG_DIR/data/passbands subdirectory [3]. The observed fluxes of Sirius A are then found using the pymsg.PhotGrid.flux() method:

[9]:
# Evaluate the observed fluxes (each normalized to the passband
# zero-point flux)

F_obs = {}

for filter in filters:
    F_obs[filter] = (R/d)**2*photgrids[filter].flux(x)

To convert these into apparent magnitudes, we apply Pogson’s logarithmic formula:

[10]:
# Evaluate apparent magnitudes and print out magnitude & colors

mags = {}

for filter in filters:
    mags[filter] = -2.5*np.log10(F_obs[filter])

print(f"V={mags['V']}, U-B={mags['U']-mags['B']}, B-V={mags['B']-mags['V']}")
V=-1.4466779855804992, U-B=-0.05964681835037444, B-V=0.001121934559611848

Reassuringly, the resulting values are within 10 millimag of Sirius A’s apparent V-band magnitude and colors, as given by Simbad.

Footnotes