MEKAL (Feb97)                ftools.heasarc                MEKAL (Feb97)



NAME
    MEKAL  --  Generates  an  XSPEC  table  file  for  the  MEKAL plasma
    emission model
    
    
USAGE
    mekal   [<filename>   [<tstart>   [<tend>   [<ntsteps>    [<efilenm>  
    [<density>       [<clobber> ]]]]]]]
    
    mekal <filename> [tstart=<tstart>] [tend=<tend>] [ntsteps=<ntsteps>]
          [efilenm=<efilenm>] [density=<density>] [clobber=<clobber>]
    
    
    
DESCRIPTION
    MEKAL runs the Mewe-Kaastra-Leidahl plasma emission code and creates
    an  XSPEC  table  file  that  can  be  used  for fitting to observed
    spectra.  The mekal model in XSPEC uses such  a  file  however  this
    ftool  allows  users  of  XSPEC  to  create their own version of the
    model with a different grid  of  temperatures  or  different  energy
    binsizes.
    
    The  temperature  grid  calculated is in <ntsteps> logarithmic steps
    from <tstart> to <tend> (which are specified  in  keV).  The  energy
    binsizes  are  specified in the ascii file <efilenm>. The first line
    of this file is the start energy for the bins  (in  eV).  Subsequent
    lines  should comprise two numbers, the first is the binsize (in eV)
    and the second is the number of bins at this binsize.
    
    The MEKAL code uses files stored in  the  XSPEC  directory  tree  so
    XANADU must be installed to run this task.
    
    
PARAMETERS
    
    filename [string]
        The name of the output XSPEC table model file.
    
    tstart [real]
        The first temperature in the grid (in keV).
    
    tend [real]
        The last temperature in the grid (in keV).
    
    ntsteps [int]
        The number of logarithmic steps in the temperature grid.
    
    efilenm [string]
        The name of the ascii file to read to get the energy binsizes.
    
    density [real]
        The  plasma  density (cm^-3). It is probably OK to leave this at
        one.
    
    clobber [bool]
        If clobber = yes then overwrite the output file  if  a  file  of
        this name already exists.
    
    
BUGS