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A guide to setting up Complex configuration

Resent years have seen a rise in the number of programs that require complex configuration strategies to maximize the yield of an AAOmega observing run.  This guide is intended to outline some of the strategies that have been adopted by AAO staff over the years.  It is not exhaustive, and we welcome comments and suggestions.

The guide is applicable to both the standard the Configure software, and the newer Simulated Annealing Configure.  However, the guide is in no way intended to replace the Configure manual, and assumes a certain level of familiarity with:

The problem

Note: the latest versions of Configure (v7.9 onwards) are multi-threaded and so multi-CPU machines will generate the collision matrix much faster, reducing the problems discussed here somewhat, but NOT removing them.

AAOmega, as with 2dF before it, has only a limited number of fibres available (~350-400 once sky fibres and the current status of fibre attrition).  Therefore the ideal AAOmega program has of the order of 400 targets per 2degree diameter field and a uniform target distribution with no closely spaced targets.  Unfortunately, nature typically chooses to frustrate these ideal circumstances, resulting in extended target lists, of targets with multiple priority levels, and with strongly clustered source distributions.  Since AAOmega is used to undertaken surveys that range in scope from high redshifts quasar samples to globular clusters towards the galactic center, the Configure software is rather generic and the responsibility for correctly defining input target lists is left to the astronomer.

The main points to consider are:
  1. Number of targets.  In most cases, and particularly so for the Simulated Annealing Configure algorithm, simply passing a >1,500 list of targets to Configure and requesting that it sorts it all out will not produce optimal results.  With around 350-400 fibres available per configuration, target lists should normally be re-sampled to include only a small excess of targets to fibres. 800-1000 targets works well for relatively uniform fields, lower number will probably be needed for more compact fields.
  2. Repeat observations.  In surveys where the same (or overlapping) fields will be targeted multiple times, it is often advantageous to reallocate targets between observations.  This can increase the total target yield by rejecting targets that are confirm to have unwanted spectral types, or replacing objects for which the spectral quality obtains is already sufficient.
  3. Similarly to 2 above, you may wish to force the repeat observation of a sub-set of high priority targets, at the expense of a large number of lower ones, but also include these lower priority targets in a new configuration where possible.  There is a facility to lock fibres in place between configurations.
A simple way to cover multiple targets in a field, using repeat observations, is outlined in section 5.4 of the configure manual "Multiple configurations to cover a target list".  The process uses the option to save the unallocated targets from a configuration to a file, using the menu option File->list... in Configure.  While this technique certainly works, and is discussed below, it is limited in that is can be rather tedious to undertake, and also cannot be done efficiently in advance of a run, since the 2dF astrometric solution will change before the run and so many allocations will not be valid during the obseravtions.  A better solution is outlined in Example 2 below.

Example 1 - Simple multiple configurations

Starting from a large master catalogue:
  1. Allocate the field using configure
  2. Save the .sds file.
  3. Also save a .lis file (File->List...) which contains the unallocated objects (this is an option in the pop-up that will appear then you select File->List...).  The .lis file format for the unallocated objects is the same as that for an input .fld file.  If you select one of the other save options, the formating will be a little different.
  4. Load this .lis file into configure and rerun the configuration, saving a new .lis file of the outstanding unallocated objects each time.

Example 2 - Configuration using a master catalogue, and current status list

For a number of reason, Example 1 above is not the prefer approach for most programs:
  1. For the first run in any AAOmega observing block, the astrometric files will not be available prior to the run, and hence the configurations would be invalid if prepared in advance.  This is typically only a small effect, but is compounded with each new iteration.
  2. The fibre availability of the field plates will change with time during a run, due to the slow rate of fibre attrition, and fibre repairs between runs.
  3. No accounting is made for data quality once observations have begun. 
  4. There is little flexibility between the interchange of the two 2dF field plates during observations.
The solution is to prepare a master catalogue, with target observation priorities, for your full observing region and to create a processing script to draw sources from this catalogue based on external constraints.  For example:
  1. Chose the first pointing center for observation.
  2. Make a .fld file, select 500-800 high priority targets from the master catalogue.  The UNIX grep and awk command are ideal here, or a simple Perl script may be the best way to achieve this goal.
  3. If there are a small number of high priority targets, pad out the .fld file with lower priority objects.  Care should be taken if a large number of low priority targets are introduced.  The user should examine the configuration by hand at step 5 below, to ensure a sensible fibre distribution is being used.
  4. Insert ~30-50 guide stars and ~50-100 blank sky positions.
  5. Configure and observe the field.
  6. Examine the spectra (determine redshifts, measure radial velocities, classify objects etc.)
  7. Update the master catalogue to reflect these observations.  A safer approach is often to create a second catalogue of new target priorities.  The processing script would then draw targets for subsequent configurations from the master file, but the priorities of classified targets are adjusted based on the information you have entered into the new target priorities catalogue. For example: Set the priority of objects with satisfactory spectra to the lowest value (Pri=1);  Remove objects of the wrong spectral type; Flag objects with promising spectra, but which will need higher signal-to-noise.  Note, you clearly cannot make the new target priorities until you have some data, and since one needs to have a number of .fld files ready in advance of each nights observing, this process is most efficient if any given region can be broken down into a number of independent (non overlapping) pointing centers each night. 
  8. Note, that there is no underlying reason why the field center need be identical to that previously used here.
  9. Repeat steps 5-9 until the required target completeness is achieved.

Items still to discuss


Rob Sharp (rgs@aao.gov.au)