Weeds: a CLASS extension for the analysis of millimeter and sub-millimeter spectral surveys

TL;DR

Weeds is an extension of the CLASS software designed to facilitate the analysis of large millimeter and sub-millimeter spectral surveys by enabling database searches and spectrum modeling, streamlining line identification.

Contribution

We introduce Weeds, a novel software extension that integrates database searches and spectrum modeling into CLASS for efficient spectral survey analysis.

Findings

Enables quick line searches in atomic and molecular databases.

Supports spectrum modeling for line identification.

Compatible with various telescopes and instruments.

Abstract

The advent of large instantaneous bandwidth receivers and high spectral resolution spectrometers on (sub-)millimeter telescopes has opened up the possibilities for unbiased spectral surveys. Because of the large amount of data they contain, any analysis of these surveys requires dedicated software tools. Here we present an extension of the widely used CLASS software that we developed to that purpose. This extension, named Weeds, allows for searches in atomic and molecular lines databases (e.g. JPL or CDMS) that may be accessed over the internet using a virtual observatory (VO) compliant protocol. The package permits a quick navigation across a spectral survey to search for lines of a given species. Weeds is also capable of modeling a spectrum, as often needed for line identification. We expect that Weeds will be useful for analyzing and interpreting the spectral surveys that will be done with the HIFI instrument on board Herschel, but also observations carried-out with ground based millimeter and sub-millimeter telescopes and interferometers, such as IRAM-30m and Plateau de Bure, CARMA, SMA, eVLA, and ALMA.