THE SMARTIES LIGHTCURVE FILE FORMAT V1.0 Format for a lightcurve combination program: Files with this format are plain ascii with extension .slf Comment lines within the file start with a '#'. ALL NUMBERS HAVE TO BE POSITIVE !! INCLUDING THE INDEX !! In case an entry does not exist for one field, the value is set to -1. the data files should consist of the following columns: -1- MFD_mid_exp -2- MJDstart -3- MJDend -4- Flux measured -5- Flux measured statistical error -6- Flux measured systematic error -7- Spectral index -8- Spectral index statistical error -9- Spectral index systematic error -10- Energy threshold -11- Energy Cutoff -12- Experiment -13- duration -14- Reference -15- fflag -16- Additional entry 1 -17- ... *** MJD_mid_exp *** col 1 Modified Julian date of the center of the observations exposure time-window. *** MJDstart, MJDend *** col 2, 3 If no start and end time are known MJDstart = MJD_of_day = MJD_mid_exp and MJDend = -1. Then still the duration might be given (see below) *** Flux measured, flux error (stat / sys) *** col 4, 5, 6 In case the measurement is an upper limit, the statistical error (col 4) has to be -1. If no statistical error (col4) is known set it to some estimated value ! If no systematic error (col5) is given, set it to -1 *** Spectral index, errors (stat, sys), Energy threshold, cutoff *** col 7,8,9,10,11 is needed for conversion to a common threshold: F(>Eth) = Fi (Eth/Ei)^(-Gi+1) or: F(>Eth) = Fi (Eth/Ei)^(-Gi+1) * exp(E/Ecutoff) UNIT: TeV Index is given as a positive number !! If no Index is given, set to -1 *** Experiment *** col 12 This entry has to be a string without spaces. Spaces in names must be replaced with 'underscore': CAT HEGRA_CT_System HEGRA_CT1 H.E.S.S. MAGIC VERITAS Whipple *** duration *** col 13 total duration of the observation -1 if no duration is known *** reference *** col 14 reference string -- standard ADS reference, if available *** fflag *** col 15 flag: if fflag is '=' int_flux is a flux if fflag is '<' int_flux is an upper limit *** More (custom/special) entries *** col16+ aditional entries -- e.g. for exotic spectral shapes or other. these entries have to be defined in the file headers !