Running auto_selfcal

Running auto_selfcal#

auto_selfcal can be run in two different modes, depending on whether you are using a modular CASA environment or a monolithic CASA distribution:

Running in Monolithic CASA#

Although the structure is a little different, support remains for running auto_selfcal in a manner similar to versions 1.X within a monolithic CASA distribution. To do so, follow the instructions for Installing into Monolithic CASA and run:

casa --nologger --nogui -c <path/to/auto_selfcal>/bin/auto_selfcal.py

Or with mpicasa:

mpicasa -n <N> casa -c <path/to/auto_selfcal>/bin/auto_selfcal.py

By default, the auto_selfcal function does not apply the derived calibrations back to the original MS files supplied. Though this can be changed with the relevant keyword arguments, the calibrations can be applied after the fact using a script supplied with auto_selfcal:

casa -c <path/to/auto_selfcal>/bin/applycal_to_orig_MSes.py

We also provide a tool to do continuum subtraction of the original MS files using the continuum ranges from cont.dat (if available):

casa -c <path/to/auto_selfcal>/bin/uvcontsub_orig_MSes.py

Note that with these scripts there is no support for command line arguments; to change these options, edit the bin/*.py files directly. For details about the available parameters for each of these functions, see our Top Level API.

Running in Modular CASA#

To run auto_selfcal in a modular CASA environment, a command line tool is provided:

auto_selfcal --<command line option> <argument> ...

Or, if installed with support for MPI:

mpirun -n <N> auto_selfcal --<command line option> <argument> ...

For the same examples as above,

mpirun -n 5 auto_selfcal --action run
auto_selfcal --action apply
auto_selfcal --action contsub

auto_selfcal can also be imported and run within Python scripts or environments:

from auto_selfcal import auto_selfcal, applycal_to_orig_MSes, uvcontsub_orig_MSes

auto_selfcal(vislist=<list of MSes>)
applycal_to_orig_MSes()
uvcontsub_orig_MSes()

For a full list of command line options, run:

auto_selfcal --help

or see the API documentation for the auto_selfcal function.

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