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ASteCA#

Warning

This documentation is updated as the package evolves and it is possibly outdated and/or incomplete. Feel free to contact me if you have questions about using ASteCA in your research, or open a new issue in the code’s repository.

This is the manual of operation for the Automated Stellar Cluster Analysis (ASteCA) package. ASteCA is an open source code developed entirely in Python, designed to handle the usual tests applied to stellar clusters in order to determine their characteristics: center, radius, membership probabilities and associated intrinsic/extrinsic parameters (metallicity, age, extinction, distance, binarity, total mass, etc).

The code is currently designed as a large script that combines functions sequentially. This allows the user to select which ones to run and which to skip, through a single input data file.

User Guide

License & Attribution#

Copyright 2015-2022 Gabriel I Perren.

ASteCA is free software made available under the GPL3 License. For details see the LICENSE.

The accompanying article describing the code in detail can be accessed via A&A, and referenced using the following BibTeX entry:

@article{Perren_2015,
    author = {{Perren, G. I.} and {V\'azquez, R. A.} and {Piatti, A. E.}},
    title = {ASteCA: Automated Stellar Cluster Analysis},
    DOI= "10.1051/0004-6361/201424946",
    url= "http://dx.doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/201424946",
    journal = {A\&A},
    year = 2015,
    volume = 576,
    pages = "A6",
    month = "04",
}

Changelog#

[v0.4.3] - 2022-06-01#

This is a large update mostly on the synthetic cluster generation process. Two extra free fundamental parameters are added: differential reddening and the ratio of total to selective absorption.

  • Fit Av instead of E(B-V) (544)

  • Clean up before releasing 0.4.3 (541)

  • Change the ‘completeness’ function (540)

  • Structural analysis consumes too much memory for large fields (539)

  • Remove mass parameter (538)

  • Use pandas to read cluster data (537)

  • Remove complete/incomplete codebase + simplify get_data() (533)

  • Change several input parameters (532)

  • Fix King profile fit (529)

  • Add a flag to turn completeness on/off (528)

  • Make the lower mass limits input parameters (526)

  • Remove (RA, DE) transformation, RV mentions, trim frame, error rejection (524)

  • Optimal radius estimation fails for some clusters (521)

  • Gap in the synthetic cluster (519)

  • DA ‘read’ mode: read from column (match with pyUPMASK) (518)

  • Simplify Bayesian parallax inference (516)

  • Per cluster fundamental parameters range (514)

  • Revise default parallax offset following eDR3 release (501)

  • Generalize mass-ratio distribution for binaries using a power law (496)

  • Output of cluster memberships is very slow for large clusters (437)

  • Generate finding chart plot (210)

  • Probability density for binary assignment (198)

  • Differential reddening (174)

  • Make extinction parameter Rv a free parameter (170)

[v0.4.2] - 2021-05-10#

  • Fixed two issues: don’t read hidden files from the input/ folder, remove forgotten parameter that was removed in the previous release.

[v0.4.1] - 2021-05-05#

  • Fixed estimated optimal radius that was too large (513)

  • Deprecate pixel coordinate support (509)

  • Coordinates density map shows artifact in corners (511)

  • Split A-D test into one test per feature (477)

[v0.4.0] - 2021-05-03#

  • Compensate cluster’s mass for binaries masses? (488)

  • Estimate individual per-star masses (484)

  • Improve performance of synth cluster generation (3) (506)

  • Simplify isochrones download/handling (497)

  • Add CS 37 COLIBRI track + deprecate old versions 10 & 11 of PARSEC (495)

  • Optimal radius too large for some clusters (510)

  • Project equatorial coordinates before processing (237)

  • Add eccentricity parameter to KP fit? (480)

  • Finish working on enhanced King profile fitting (456)

  • Remove KDE_stds and mp_flag parameters (500)

  • Simplify input of structure parameters (512)

  • Deprecate all likelihoods except Tremmel (507)

  • Interpolate IMF masses into the isochrones, not the other way around (503)

  • Add minimum binary mass ratio to fundamental parameters? (504)

  • Deprecate Anderson-Darling test (499)

  • Deprecate “Read mode” (498)

  • Add IMF and PMF curves obtention (96)

  • Convert pixel coordinates to RA & DEC (203)

  • Add ZAMS to CMD final plot (160)

  • Add semi_input.dat checking to checker (214)

  • Add weighted spatial density map (167)

  • Generate output CMD-CCD plots for the mean+median+mode (479)

  • Exact circle area using geometry instead of Monte Carlo (446)

  • Use the maximum number of members in the optimal radius? (494)

  • Add 1-sigma region to King profile (478)

  • Turn off MP coloring in D2 plots for binned likelihoods (473)

[v0.3.1] - 2020-06-19#

Only the ptemcee method is kept, all others are now deprecated.

  • Corrected an error in the CMD_systs.dat file (468)

  • Fixed path for CMD_systs.dat, now works in Windows (and Mac?)

  • Control (some) plotting parameters through custom style and allow the selection of one of the supported styles (464)

  • Dump the results of the fundamental parameters analysis to file (467)

  • Closed several issues related to the deprecated bootstrap(+GA), brute force, and emcee methods (265, 280, 284, 324, 341, 347, 418, 442, 447)

  • Split D1 plots (MCMC convergence diagnostics plots & values) (389)

  • Explore Zeus as a possible addition to the best fit process (457)

  • Add mode, median to King’s profile plot (470)

  • Make “trim frame” option per cluster (474)

  • Closed due to old or not applicable (209, 293, 399)

[v0.3.0] - 2020-04-22#

Massive changes introduced in this new version. Python 2.7.x is no longer supported.

  • Port to Python 3 (243)

  • Upgrade to emcee v3.0.2 (423)

  • Add emcee to the best fit process (193)

  • Upgraded to astropy v0.0.4

  • Remove (z,a) steps (413)

  • Bug fix: binary probabilities should not be averaged by zaWAverage (462)

  • Add Tremmel’s implementation of the PLR (447)

  • Improve performance of synthetic cluster generation (445)

  • Fix Tolstoy likelihood accounting for uncertainties twice (406)

  • Add option to apply ’pmRA*cos(DE)’ correction (452)

  • Added optm method to local removal of stars (432)

  • Added manual binning method to likelihood block (325)

  • New radius estimating method and many improvements to structural functions (RDP, field dens, radius) (454, 449, 346, 378)

  • Added maximum likelihood method for fitting King profiles (268, 298)

  • Allow seeding the synthetic cluster generation process (196)

  • Add stopping condition to the plotting line (443)

  • Add Nsigma region to the best fit synthetic cluster (460)

  • Fix small bug in radii arrows (182)

[v0.2.7] - 2019-10-03#

  • Use inverse transform sampling to sample the IMF (434)

  • Interpolation of (z,a) values uses wrong m_ini index (440)

  • Interpolation of isochrone fails when (z,a) are both fixed (439)

  • Mass ‘alignment’ in zaInterp() gives poor result (441)

  • Select the N_mass_interp number automatically (438)

[v0.2.6] - 2019-09-19#

  • Fix normalization in Bayesian DA (426)

  • Fix function to detect X11 that fails in Mac OS (Windows too?) (428)

  • Merge semi_input.dat file into params_input.dat and copy input file as output (427)

  • Remove modes (429)

  • Use one photometric systems file instead of two identical ones (421)

  • Fix Ext/Imm operator causing spurious points in the GA (424)

[v0.2.5] - 2019-08-07#

  • Added the ptemcee method, and deprecated (for now) the BF (367)

  • Accept a CMD/CCD from mixed photometric systems (228, 229)

  • Add support for the new set of isochrones PARSEC+COLIBRI (322)

  • Output all information obtained from the bootstrap (279)

  • Mask stars with photometry outside of reasonable range (414)

  • Add proper motions, parallax, and radial velocity support to Bayesian DA (220)

  • Use stars with no complete data in the Bayesian equation (377).

  • Add dimensional weights to Bayesian DA.

  • Use all positions for structural functions (107).

  • Make the bootstrap the actual method (instead of GA) (64)

  • Make the GA work with floats instead of a grid (412)

  • Plot the incomplete dataset with MPs information (411)

  • Use a total number of masses, not a step value (410)

  • Use stars after error rejection for LF & completeness (390)

  • Switch to astropy’s read module (327) and allow reading columns by name.

  • Update check for installed packages (newer pip threw an error).

  • Added a 2D cluster vs field KDE comparison, and the A-D test (255, 356)

  • Added MAP, median and mode to output parameters.

  • Added R2 normality estimator to distributions (401)

  • Deprecated KDE p-value function.

  • Deprecated trim_frame, and manual mode in photometric error rejection.

  • Deprecated integrated magnitude function.

  • Store input parameters as .json for each cluster (126)

  • Don’t read hidden files from the ‘isochrones’ folder (403)

  • Use KDE instead of Gaussian filters (379)

  • Split C2 plot into C2 and C3

[v0.2.4] - 2018-03-16#

  • Extend support for up to two colors.

  • Improved performance (#357):

    • Make mass sampling optional (#373)

    • Move binarity assignment outside of the synthetic cluster generation.

    • Move isochrone sorting outside of the synthetic cluster generation.

    • Move random floats for photometric errors outside of the synthetic cluster generation.

    • Move random floats for completeness outside of the synthetic cluster generation. Code is now ~3.3X faster

[v0.2.3] - 2017-09-23#

  • Improved performance of synthetic cluster generation (#227). Code is now ~4X faster.

  • Fix excessive use of memory by Rbf interpolation (#350)

  • Use equal bin widths in LF and completeness function (#300)

  • Faster star separation by errors (#351)

  • Generalize Bayesian DA to N-dimensions, fix statistical issues, improve performance (#352)

[v0.2.2] - 2017-08-29#

[v0.2.1] - 2017-08-11#

  • Fix issue with ‘tolstoy’ likelihood estimation (#340)

  • Fix a couple of issues with the error curve fitting (#338)

  • Add ‘fixed’ MPs algorithm (useful when no field region is available) (#326)

  • Fix crash when obtaining error curve (#256)

[v0.2.0] - 2017-08-07#

  • Generalized code to accept an arbitrary CMD in any single photometric system supported by the CMD service (#24).

  • Identify binary systems in synthetic clusters (#199).

  • Plots are now produced per blocks, instead of all together at the end (#271)

  • Switch dependency requirement from astroML to astropy (#303).

  • Remove unused error rejection modes (#331)

  • Simplify params_input.dat file (#217)

  • Check that all metallicity files contain the same number of age values (#218)

  • Add density maps analysis for center function (#164)

  • Remove weight added to the observed cluster CMD’s histogram (#308)

  • Fix bad parameter rounding (#248)

  • Add ‘max mag’ cut for synthetic clusters (#302, #264)

  • Simplify installation steps (#88, #315)

  • Plot results of brute force minimization (#100)

  • Make extinction parameter Rv a manual input parameter (#314)

  • Use numpy’s binning methods (#317)

  • Modify RDP limit (#294)

  • Store extra data from theoretical isochrones (#201)

[v0.1.9.5] - 2016-08-07#

  • Remove forgotten print line.

  • Print relevant information when data con not be read (#262).

  • Fix bad range issue (#226).

[v0.1.9.4] - 2016-07-25#

  • Add support for five tracks from the CMD service (#276).

  • Read metallicity files with underscores instead of decimal dots (#277).

  • Several important structural changes (#273): add first_run check, re-arrange and re-name modules, and move almost every part of the code into the packages/ folder.

[v0.1.9.3] - 2016-05-25#

[v0.1.9.2] - 2016-04-17#

[v0.1.9.1] - 2015-08-25#

[v0.1.9] - 2015-06-18#

(Warning: this release breaks compatibility with the previous version of the params_input.dat & semi_input.dat files)

  • Models (ie: isochrone + extinction +distance modulus + mass distribution + binarity) are now evaluated each time the GA selects them as a solution, thus a new mass distribution is generated (#186). This has a performance cost, but provides higher accuracy in the best model assignment process since a single model can now be evaluated with a slightly different mass distribution several times (only with GA, Brute Force method will only process a model once).

  • Added an exit switch to the decontamination algorithm. It will stop iterations if the MPs converged to 0.1% tolerance values for all the stars in the cluster region (compared to the previous iteration). This speeds up the function considerably (#185).

  • The upper mass value in the IMF can now be modified via the input parameters file.

  • Code can now read params_input_XX.dat files when using lazy parallelization.

  • Number of field regions can now be set individually via the semi_input.dat file.

  • Added ‘bb’ binning method based on Bonnato & Bica (2007). Sets bin widths of 0.25 and 0.5 for colors and magnitudes respectively.

  • Fixed bug in manual mode when displaying errors.

  • Fixed bug when narrow frames were plotted (#168).

  • Moved text box outside of synthetic cluster’s plot to improve its visibility (#205).

  • Closed #13. Saha’s W likelihood needs the number of model points to be fixed, which prevents it from being used when the mass varies. There’s nothing to be gained by adding this function.

  • Caveat dragged from version 0.1.2 is resolved.

[v0.1.8] - 2015-04-09#

(Warning: this release breaks compatibility with the previous version of the params_input.dat file)

  • Added local and mp_05 methods to the selection of which stars to use in the best fit cluster parameter assignation process (#180, #183).

  • Added an automatic update checker function that notifies the user if an updated version of ASteCA is available for download (#179).

  • Added grid lines over the photometric diagrams of the observed and synthetic cluster, showing the binning made by the method selected in each case (#131).

  • Best fit synthetic cluster found is now saved to file (#154).

  • Correctly obtain approximate number of members (n_memb) and contamination index (CI) when the cluster radius extends beyond the RDP, thus making the field star density value (field_dens) unreliable (#111).

  • Added f10 flag to alert when the memb_par value is greater than +-0.33, which means that there are twice as many estimated true members in either method (#175).

  • Improved top_tiers plotting and saved file (#184).

Caveats#

[v0.1.7] - 2015-03-26#

(Warning: this release breaks compatibility with the previous version of the params_input.dat file)

  • Re-write lowexp error rejection method, now uses prediction bands instead of confidence intervals.

  • Force matplotlib’s backend to make the code work in servers.

  • Fixed eyefit method for error rejection. It changed after fixing #169.

  • Added SDSS CMDs g vs (u-g) & g vs (g-r), at the request of Tjibaria Pijloo (Department of Astrophysics, Radboud University Nijmegen).

  • Fixed bug in binarity generation for the CMDs of the form X vs (X-Y) (#181).

  • Smarter selection of stars to be used by the best fit function, improvements in several plots (#171, #172).

  • Best fit function can now accept a minimum magnitude value instead of just a minimum probability value (#115).

  • Added a memb_par parameter to compare the number of approximate cluster members obtained via the structural analysis and via the decontamination algorithm (#162).

  • Code is now able to correctly read the names of files with more than one dot in it’s name.

  • Fixed bad alphabetical ordering of input cluster files.

  • Better limits for photometric diagram (#173).

  • Fixed DeprecationWarning issue.

  • Invert x axis when RA cords are used (improved here).

  • Several fixes and improvements made to plotted diagrams (5c7dc7f; 1642349; b57028c; 240178a; 9ec0ab8; fef14c4; db0df2a; 575ebe7; #177; #178).

Caveats#

[v0.1.61] - 2015-03-04#

  • Added “lazy parallelization” ability. Now the user can run as many instances of the code as needed simply by creating extra asteca_xx.py and input_xx folders where xx are integers of the form: 01, 02,…, 99.

  • Reposition several text boxes in output images, newer versions of matplotlib moved them from the previous position.

  • Fix bad import of rpy2 package, positioned incorrectly in two functions.

  • Fix DeprecationWarning showing when exp_function was used (#169).

Caveats#

[v0.1.5] - 2015-03-03#

(Warning: this release breaks compatibility with the previous version of the params_input.dat file)

  • Improved radius assignment algorithm (#146).

  • Detect cropped cluster region and use correct area when generating field regions (#139, #157).

  • Fixed bug that crashed the code when top tiers synthetic clusters with no stars were plotted (#147). Added minimum total mass of 10Mo.

  • Fixed bug where KDE p-values for field vs field comparison were artificially increased by comparing a field region with itself (#138).

  • Obtain KDE p-value even if one field region is defined (#114).

  • Fixed small bug that prevented integrated magnitude curves from being plotted (#145).

  • Fixed several smaller bugs and issues (#110, #150, #140, #142, #141, #149, #95, #148, #136, #163, #143).

Caveats#

[v0.1.4] - 2014-12-18#

  • Improved plotting of crowded fields (#62).

  • Function to generate image is now more stable (#112). Re-arranged plots in output image.

  • Add Top tiers models output (#130).

  • Fixed small bug in KDE p-values function (#134).

  • Minor re-arrangement with semi-input data.

Caveats#

[v0.1.3] - 2014-12-10#

  • Accept arrays of non-equispaced parameter values instead of only equispaced ranges (#121).

  • Added support for log-normal Chabrier (2001) IMF.

  • More precise encoding/decoding in genetic algorithm.

  • Functions separated into sections (#125).

  • Input parameters set as global variables (#132).

Caveats#

[v0.1.2] - 2014-12-01#

Caveats#

  • Still not sure why tolstoy likelihood is biased towards high masses :confused:

[v0.1.1] - 2014-11-07#

More stable release.

  • Closed #113, #116.

  • Minor change to error function.

  • Closed Known issues from previous version.

Caveats#

  • Same as previous version.

[v0.1.0] - 2014-10-08#

First semi-stable buggy release

  • Closed #72, #99, #37.

  • Changed the way the IMF was sampled, now it should be faster and more precise.

  • Some speed improvements (moved things around mainly).

  • Binary fraction is now a free parameter.

Known issues#

  • Serious bug: if the DA is set to run but the Best fit method isn’t, the final plot can’t be produced since the syn_cl_err function isn’t used (fixed in next release).

  • Forgotten print prints out mass values every time the E/I operator is applied (fixed in next release).

  • If the number of points (n_left) in the radius finding function is smaller than 4, a very small radius is likely to be selected. Fixed in next release.

Caveats#

  • The total initial mass can be set as a free parameter but the likelihood function will select always synthetic clusters of high mass. Thus it is advised to leave this parameter fixed to 1000 solar masses.

  • The binary fraction found is not stored in the output data file.

  • Some density map plots for mass and binary fraction are missing.

[v4.0.0-beta] - 2014-09-23#

  • Closed #85, #70, #43, #86.

  • Metallicity and age now take steps in the GA.

  • Add checker function to make sure certain parameters are set correctly before running.

  • Number of points in get_radius increased 20% –> 25% of the RDP.

[v3.0.0-beta] - 2014-09-16#

  • Closed: #89, #77, #80.

  • The params_input.dat and semi_input.dat files are now located at the top level next to asteca.py.

  • Cluster’s photometric files are not longer required to be stored inside a sub-folder to be picked-up by the code.

[v2.0.1-beta] - 2014-09-15#

  • Correct version number.

[v2.0.0-beta] - 2014-09-11#

  • Closed issues: #15, #73, #53, #24, #75, #79, #81, #59, #83, #78, #69, #74.

  • Changed name of package (OCAAT –> ASteCA).

  • Added separate function to handle the spatial 2D histogram.

  • Changes to get_center function (now hopefully simpler)

  • Added UBVI support for V vs (U-V).

  • Added 2MASS CMD support for J vs (J-H), H vs (J-H) and K vs (H-K).

  • Improve field star regions integrated magnitudes curve averaging.

  • Simplify process of adding a new CMD.

  • Added details on how the integrated magnitude calculation is done in the manual.

  • Lots of minor edits/corrections.

[v1.0.0-beta] - 2014-08-24#

First beta release

Version used (with some small changes) in the original article.