$\texttt{nectarchain}$, the scientific software for the Cherenkov Telescope Array -- NectarCAM

TL;DR

The paper introduces 'nectarchain', a scientific software pipeline designed for the NectarCAM camera on the Cherenkov Telescope Array, detailing its structure, data processing modules, validation tests, and future prospects.

Contribution

It presents the design, implementation, and validation of the 'nectarchain' software, a new pipeline for calibrating and quality-checking data from the NectarCAM instrument.

Findings

Effective calibration and data quality checks demonstrated

Software integration with CTA framework achieved

Validation tests confirm reliability and readiness

Abstract

The NectarCAM is a camera that will be mounted on the Medium-Sized Telescopes of the Cherenkov Telescope Array (CTA) observatory. Along with the hardware integration of the camera, the scientific software, $\texttt{nectarchain}$, is being developed. The software is responsible for transforming the raw data from the camera into analysis-ready calibrated data. In this contribution, we present the structure of the software, which consists of two modules: the calibration pipeline and the data quality check pipeline. The calibration pipeline reduces the data, performs flat fielding, and determines the gain for the analysis. The data quality monitoring pipeline is used to select the data that meets the necessary standards for analysis. Additionally, we discuss the format of the downstream data and the integration of the $\texttt{nectarchain}$ modules in the general software framework of CTA. We also present the necessary tests for validating each part of the code. We conclude by mentioning the prospects for the future of the software.