TY - JOUR
T1 - Vartools
T2 - A program for analyzing astronomical time-series data
AU - Hartman, J. D.
AU - Bakos, G.
N1 - Funding Information:
The development of Vartools has been supported by NASA grant NNX14AE87G . We also acknowledge support from NSF/AST - 1108686 and NASA grants NNX12AH91H and NNX13AJ15G . We would like to thank the anonymous referee for their review of this paper. We would also like to thank the users of Vartools who have contributed bug reports and other feedback, especially T. Beatty, A. Bonanos, T. Bovaird, D. Flateau, L. Macri, D. Nataf, J. Pepper, J. Rasor, B. Sipöcz, R. Siverd, A. Schwarzenberg-Czerny, K. Stanek, and A. Sweeney.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2016 The Author(s).
PY - 2016/10/1
Y1 - 2016/10/1
N2 - This paper describes the Vartools program, which is an open-source command-line utility, written in C, for analyzing astronomical time-series data, especially light curves. The program provides a general-purpose set of tools for processing light curves including signal identification, filtering, light curve manipulation, time conversions, and modeling and simulating light curves. Some of the routines implemented include the Generalized Lomb-Scargle periodogram, the Box-Least Squares transit search routine, the Analysis of Variance periodogram, the Discrete Fourier Transform including the CLEAN algorithm, the Weighted Wavelet Z-Transform, light curve arithmetic, linear and non-linear optimization of analytic functions including support for Markov Chain Monte Carlo analyses with non-trivial covariances, characterizing and/or simulating time-correlated noise, and the TFA and SYSREM filtering algorithms, among others. A mechanism is also provided for incorporating a user's own compiled processing routines into the program. Vartools is designed especially for batch processing of light curves, including built-in support for parallel processing, making it useful for large time-domain surveys such as searches for transiting planets. Several examples are provided to illustrate the use of the program.
AB - This paper describes the Vartools program, which is an open-source command-line utility, written in C, for analyzing astronomical time-series data, especially light curves. The program provides a general-purpose set of tools for processing light curves including signal identification, filtering, light curve manipulation, time conversions, and modeling and simulating light curves. Some of the routines implemented include the Generalized Lomb-Scargle periodogram, the Box-Least Squares transit search routine, the Analysis of Variance periodogram, the Discrete Fourier Transform including the CLEAN algorithm, the Weighted Wavelet Z-Transform, light curve arithmetic, linear and non-linear optimization of analytic functions including support for Markov Chain Monte Carlo analyses with non-trivial covariances, characterizing and/or simulating time-correlated noise, and the TFA and SYSREM filtering algorithms, among others. A mechanism is also provided for incorporating a user's own compiled processing routines into the program. Vartools is designed especially for batch processing of light curves, including built-in support for parallel processing, making it useful for large time-domain surveys such as searches for transiting planets. Several examples are provided to illustrate the use of the program.
KW - Methods: data analysis
KW - Methods: statistical
KW - Techniques: photometric
KW - Time
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U2 - 10.1016/j.ascom.2016.05.006
DO - 10.1016/j.ascom.2016.05.006
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:84975258322
SN - 2213-1337
VL - 17
SP - 1
EP - 72
JO - Astronomy and Computing
JF - Astronomy and Computing
ER -