KECK KCWI

Overview

This file summarizes several instrument specific settings that are related to the Keck/KCWI spectrograph. Future setups will be included in PypeIt. If your setup or wavelength range is not supported, you may need to use the pypeit_identify task to manually wavelength calibrate your data. Also note that NAS mode is not currently supported in PypeIt.

Taking Calibrations for KCWI

Arcs and tilts

We recommend that you only use the FeAr lamp to wavelength calibrate your data. Note that some FeAr calibration frames were contaminated due to a leaking ThAr lamp for observations up to the end of 2019. If your data are affected, you will need to request a new arc calibration. If there is a small offset in the wavelength calibration, this is compensated for by default using a spectral flexure correction to the sky emission lines. We also recommend that you use the ThAr lamp to determine the tilt of the spectra. This is done by default. If a ThAr exposure is not available, you can use the FeAr lamp, or you can use the sky emission lines if you are using KCRM and cover red wavelengths.

NOTE: The archived wavelength calibration solution only contains the FeAr spectrum. If you want to use the ThAr spectrum for the wavelength calibration, you will need to manually calibrate the data using the pypeit_identify task.

Pixel Flat

It is recommended to correct for pixel-to-pixel variations using the internal “Continuum” lamp. We have also identified that there is some detector structure at the level of a few percent. The default setting is to model and account for the detector structure. If you would like to turn this off, you should add the following to your PypeIt Reduction File:

[calibrations]
    [[flatfield]]
        flatfield_structure = False

Trace Flat

We strongly recommend that you take dome trace flats. This is essential for the spatial illumination profile correction and to trace the slit edges. The dome flats (or sky flats) are a more faithful representation of the slit edge locations and spatial illumination profile of your science frames.

Alignment frames

PypeIt uses alignment frames to perform an astrometric correction. For KCWI, these are referred to as “Cont Bars” frames. This correction is small, and if you do not have alignment frames for KCWI you should turn off the astrometric correction when combining your data with the pypeit_coadd_datacube routine (see Coadd 3D Spectra for the documentation) by setting:

[reduce]
    [[cube]]
        astrometric = False

Image processing

CCD Pattern Removal

We identified a sinusoidal pattern that is imprinted on the CCD which varies with time and CCD row (i.e. the sinusoidal pattern is present only in the spatial direction). If you are working in the read noise limit, we recommend that you subtract off this pattern. We have a robust algorithm to remove this pattern in both 1x1 and 2x2 binning data. Our tests indicated the the effective read noise can be reduced by a factor of 1.5-1.6. This pattern is removed by default, but if you would prefer to turn this off, you can do so by adding the following in your PypeIt Reduction File:

[scienceframe]
    [[process]]
        use_pattern = False

Note, the effective read noise of the data is determined from the overscan regions. Also note that this pattern noise is different from the detector structure mentioned above for pixelflats. The pattern noise is additive, the detector structure is multiplicative.

Scattered Light Removal

KCWI suffers from mild scattered light (at the level of ~1 percent), and this appears to be worse near regions of the detector where there is brighter illumination. We are currently working towards building a full model of the scattered light. For KCWI, the main contributor to the scattered light is referred to as the “narcissistic ghost” by Morrissey et al. (2018), ApJ, 864, 93. This scattered light is thought to be a reflection off the detector that travels back through the optical system. Some fraction gets sent back out to space, while the remainder comes back through the optical system and a fuzzy version of this is re-imaged onto the detector. The current KCWI scattered light model is designed to account for these effects. To generate a scattered light model, it’s a good idea to use a frame that has a lot of counts (e.g. a flatfield frame, or a standard star). By default, the scattered light is subtracted from the science frame, the pixel flat, and the illumination flat. To turn off the scattered light subtraction, you can add the following lines to your PypeIt Reduction File:

[scienceframe]
    [[process]]
        subtract_scattlight = False
[calibrations]
    [[pixelflatframe]]
        [[[process]]]
            subtract_scattlight = False

Relative spectral illumination correction

At this stage, we recommend that you take sky flats to measure the relative spectral sensitivity of the different slices. It’s possible that a short exposure of the moon will work equally well. You could also use dome flats if you can get sufficient blue counts. You should create a PypeIt Reduction File that is separate from your science observations, and reduce this sky flat frame as if it were a science frame (i.e. label it as a science frame in this PypeIt Reduction File). You should then add the following lines to the top of the PypeIt Reduction File:

[reduce]
    [[skysub]]
        joint_fit = True
        user_regions = :50,50:

The first of these commands performs a joint fit to all slices (i.e. assumes that the sky is the same in all slices), while the second command tells PypeIt to use the entire slice to determine the sky and relative scale. This process only calculates the relative scale correction. To apply it to your science frames, this scale correction is applied when you make the datacube. The command to apply this scale correction to your science frames in your Coadd 3D Spectra file:

[reduce]
    [[skysub]]
        scale_corr = Science/spec2d_KB.blah-Sky_KCWI_blah.fits

where the spec2d file assigned to scale_corr is the name of the reduced sky flat file. If you did not take sky flats or dome flats, you should not use the internal flats. The only other reasonable alternative is to use the sky regions of your science frames, but note that you need sufficient counts to do this properly. To turn on a joint fit to the sky spectrum (and therefore account for the relative transmission of the slices) add the following to your PypeIt Reduction File:

[reduce]
    [[skysub]]
        joint_fit = True

and you can also set the user_regions (as above), if you know where the sky appears on the slices.

Sky subtraction

See Sky Subtraction for useful hints to define the sky regions using an interactive GUI. You can use the joint_fit parameter (see above) to jointly fit the sky in all slits (and compute the relative spectral sensitivity variation for each slice). However, note that some modes of KCWI and KCRM have significant variation of the instrument FWHM across the field of view. The current implementation of this joint sky subtraction does not account for the variation of the FWHM across the field of view. This will be addressed in the future (refer to Issue #1660 for any updates regarding this).

Flexure corrections

KCWI suffers from a gentle spectral flexure correction. It is a gradient from the leftmost slice to the rightmost slice of about 2 pixels. By default, the pipeline does not correct for spectral flexure, because there needs to be decent sky detection in each slice for the correction to be done well. If you want to turn on the spectral flexure correction, add the following command to your PypeIt Reduction File:

[flexure]
    spec_method = slitcen

Similarly, there is a slice dependent spatial flexure. Given that the spatial illumination profile of KCWI is also slice dependent, this spatial flexure could cause a problem with the relative illumination across the KCWI field-of-view in the reconstructed datacube. While the spatial flexure correction is partially implemented for KCWI (but is not done by default), users should use this option with caution.

Flux calibration

You should reduce all standard star observations as if they are science observations (i.e. in your PypeIt Reduction File, make sure the standard star frames are labelled as science and not standard in the Data Block). The flux calibration is done outside of the pipeline when creating datacubes; see Coadd 3D Spectra and Fluxing.

Producing datacubes

PypeIt does not produce datacubes as a standard product of the reduction process. Instead, PypeIt delivers fully processed 2D frames, which can be combined into a single datacube using the pypeit_coadd_datacube routine (see Coadd 3D Spectra for the documentation).