Multibeam MX mode

MX mode is a specific observing approach with a multibeam where a single source is observed cycling through each beam. The scans when the beam is off source is used as a reference for the on-source scan. The function mx_quotient is used to make a quotient spectrum from an MX cycle. This works averaging the ``off-source'' scans for each beam (either a median average or mean) and using this as a reference scan in a normal quotient (for each beam). The final spectrum for each beam is returned on a new scantable containing single scan (it the scan numbers are re-labelled to be the same). Note that the current version of mx_quotient only handles a single MX cycle, i.e. if each beam has observed the source multiple times you will need to use the selector object multiple times to select a single MX cycle, run mx_quotient for each cycle then merge the resulting scan tables back together.

Example:

  ASAP>scans = scantable('mydata.rpf')
  ASAP>q = scans.mx_quotient()
  ASAP>plotter.plot(q)

The function average_beam averages multiple beam data together. This is need if MX mode has been used to make a long integration on a single source. E.g.

  ASAP>av = q.average_beam()

Malte Marquarding 2007-08-16