Command-line tools

PINT comes with several command line tools that perform several useful tasks, without needing to write a Python script. The scripts are installed automatically by setup.py into the bin directory of your Python distro, so they should be found in your PATH.

Examples of the scripts are below. It is assumed that you are running in the “examples” subdirectory of the PINT distro.

All of the tools accept -h or --help to provide a description of the options.

pintk

pintk is a GUI for PINT (based on the Tk GUI toolbox). It has many of the same functions as the plk plugin for Tempo2.

pintk NGC6440E.par NGC6440E.tim

convert_parfile

convert_parfile allows a user to convert a par file between various formats and among various binary models. For instance:

convert_parfile -f tempo input.par -o output.par

will convert input.par to output.par in the tempo format. Or:

convert_parfile -b DD ell1.par -o dd.par

will convert the model in ell1.par to the DD binary model.

pintbary

pintbary does quick barycentering calculations, converting an MJD(UTC) on the command line to TDB with barycentric delays applied. The position used for barycentering can be read from a par file or from the command line

pintbary 56000.0 --parfile J0613-sim.par

pintbary 56001.0 --ra 12h13m14.2s --dec 14d11m10.0s --ephem DE421

pintempo

pintempo is a command line tool for PINT that is similar to tempo or tempo2. It takes two required arguments, a parfile and a tim file.

pintempo --plot NGC6440E.par NGC6440E.tim

zima

zima is a command line tool that uses PINT to create simulated TOAs

zima NGC6440E.par fake.tim

photonphase

This tool reads FITS event files from the NICER, RXTE or other experiments that produce FITS event files and computes phases for each photon, according to a timing model. The phases can be plotted or output as a FITS file column. Currently NICER and RXTE events can be raw files, which will be processed by reading an orbit file to compute spacecraft positions. XMM/Newton or Chandra data can be processed if they are barycentered events produced by their mission-specific barycentering tools. Specific support for those missions would be easy to add.

cd ../tests/datafile
photonphase --plot B1509_RXTE_short.fits J1513-5908_PKS_alldata_white.par --orbfile FPorbit_Day6223

fermiphase

This tool uses PINT to read Fermi LAT event (FT1) files and compute phases for each photon. Can plot phaseogram of computed phases, or write PULSE_PHASE column back to FITS file.

Works with raw Fermi FT1 files, geocentered events (as produced by the Fermi Science Tool gtbary tcorrect=geo), or barycentered events.

fermiphase --plot J0030+0451_P8_15.0deg_239557517_458611204_ft1weights_GEO_wt.gt.0.4.fits PSRJ0030+0451_psrcat.par CALC

event_optimize

This code uses PINT and emcee to do an MCMC likelihood fitting of a timing model to a set of Fermi LAT photons. Currently requires the Fermi FT1 file to contain geocentered events (usually from gtbary tcorrect=geo).

The code reads in Fermi photon events, along with a par file and a pulse profile template, and optimizes the timing model using an MCMC sampling process. The parameters to fit and their priors are determined by reading the par file. It can use photon weights, if available, or compute them based on a simple heuristic computation, if desired. There are many options to control the behavior.

An example run is shown below, using sample files that are included in the examples subdirectory of the PINT distro.

event_optimize J0030+0451_P8_15.0deg_239557517_458611204_ft1weights_GEO_wt.gt.0.4.fits PSRJ0030+0451_psrcat.par templateJ0030.3gauss --weightcol=PSRJ0030+0451 --minWeight=0.9 --nwalkers=100 --nsteps=500

tcb2tdb

A command line tool that converts par files from TCB timescale to TDB timescale.

tcb2tdb J0030+0451_tcb.par J0030+0451_tdb.par