Fastcc: fast colour corrections for broadband radio telescope data

TL;DR

Fastcc introduces efficient Python and IDL tools for rapid colour correction calculations in broadband radio telescope data, reducing computational load while maintaining accuracy across different spectral models.

Contribution

The paper presents fastcc and interpcc, new software tools that enable quick computation of colour correction coefficients for various spectral indices and models, streamlining data processing in radio astronomy.

Findings

Significantly faster colour correction calculations.

Applicable to multiple spectral models including power-law and black bodies.

Tools are publicly available and extendable.

Abstract

Broadband receiver data need colour corrections applying to correct for the different source spectra across their wide bandwidths. The full integration over a receiver bandpass may be computationally expensive and redundant when repeated many times. Colour corrections can be applied, however, using a simple quadratic fit based on the full integration instead. Here we describe fastcc and interpcc, quick Python and IDL codes that return, respectively, colour correction coefficients for different power-law spectral indices and modified black bodies for various Cosmic Microwave Background related experiments. The codes are publicly available, and can be easily extended to support additional telescopes.