POLKA

Creates Stokes vectors from a set of 2-dimensional intensity frames

Description:

This application converts a set of 2D intensity frames into a 3D cube containing a Stokes vector for every measured pixel on the sky. It may also be used as an image alignment tool for non-polarimetric 2D data (see parameter POL). It cannot be used with 3D intensity frames (e.g. spectropolarimetry data).

The main processes applied to the data are:

1) Extraction of the required sub-regions from each input frame.

2) Alignment of all extracted sub-regions using stars within the field.

3) Sky subtraction within each aligned sub-region.

4) Calculation of a Stokes vector for each pixel. This step may be omitted if required by supplying a null value for parameter OUT_S.

The inputs to this application are a set of intensity frames which have been corrected to remove any instrumental effects introduced by the detector (such as de-biassing, flat-fielding, etc.). Output Stokes vectors can only be produced if all input frames contain a POLPACK extension (see application POLIMP). In dual-beam mode, each input frame contains two images of the sky (the O and E ray images). In single-beam mode, each input frame contains only a single image of the sky.

The outputs from this application consist of the aligned, sky-subtracted intensity images, and the cube holding the Stokes vectors. In dual beam mode two output intensity frames are created for each input frame, one containing the O ray image, and the other containing the E ray image. In single-beam mode one output intensity frame is created for each input frame, holding the usable area of the corresponding input frame. The user may choose not to create any or all of these outputs. For instance, the Stokes vectors may be produced without retaining the aligned intensity images (see parameters OUT_S, OUT_E, OUT_O and OUT).

Use of this application divides into two stages. In the first stage, a Graphical User Interface (GUI) is used to obtain all the information required to produce the output data files from the user. This includes identifying stars, masks and sky regions on each of the supplied input images. This is the labour-intensive bit. Once this has been completed your satisfaction, the second stage is entered in which the output data files are created. Once initiated, no further interaction on your part is required. This is the computationally intensive bit. The GUI makes use of various applications from POLPACK, KAPPA and CCDPACK to perform all these tasks. Note, if the find the image display area too small for comfort you can make it bigger using the DPI parameter described below.

A step-by-step tutorial on the use of the GUI is available within the "Help" menu at the right hand end of the menu bar (see also the STARTHELP parameter).

Various options controlling the behaviour of the GUI can be set on the command line by assigning values to the parameters listed below. Alternatively, most of them can be set using the "Options" menu in the menu bar at the top of the GUI. If not supplied on the command line, these parameters usually adopt the values they had on the previous invocation of POLKA. The values shown in square brackets in the parameter descriptions below are the initial default values.

Usage:

polka in out_s

Parameters:

BADCOL = LITERAL (Update)
The colour with which to represent missing data in the image display. This should be one of RED, BLUE, GREEN, CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, BLACK. Any unambiguous abbreviation can be supplied, and the value is case-insensitive. [CYAN]
CURCOL = LITERAL (Update)
The colour with which to mark the objects (i.e. image features and masks) currently being entered by the user. This should be one of RED, BLUE, GREEN, CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, BLACK. Any unambiguous abbreviation can be supplied, and the value is case-insensitive. [RED]
DPI = _INTEGER (Read)
The dots per inch on the display screen. Some X servers fail to supply the correct value, resulting in the GUI being unpleasantly small or large. For this reason, an explicit value may be supplied using this parameter. If a null (!) value is supplied, then the DPI value returned by the X server is used. This parameter may also be used to adjust the size of the GUI to the user’s preference, even if the DPI value returned by the X server is correct. Note, this value cannot be set from the GUI’s "Options" menu. [!]
DUALBEAM = _LOGICAL (Read)
If a TRUE value is supplied, then POLKA will operate in dual-beam mode, producing two output images for each input image. Otherwise, it will operate in single-beam mode, with one output image being produced for each input image. In single-beam mode, the output image is notionally referred to as the "O-ray" image, and all the GUI controls related to the E-ray areas are disabled. This parameter is only used when processing polarimeter data (see parameter POL). It’s value cannot be set from the "Options" menu within the GUI. [TRUE]
FITTYPE = _INTEGER (Update)
The type of mapping which should be used between images. This may take any of the following values:

1 - Shift of origin.

2 - Shift of origin and rotation.

3 - Shift of origin and magnification.

4 - Shift of origin, rotation and magnification.

Only mapping types 1 and 3 are available when processing dual-beam polarimeter data. Mapping types 2 and 4 are also available when processing single-beam data. [1]

HELPAREA = _LOGICAL (Update)
If a TRUE value is supplied, then dynamic help information will be displayed in a box at the bottom of the GUI. This information is continuously updated to describe the control or area currently under the mouse pointer. [TRUE]
IN = NDF (Read)
A group of 2-d input intensity frames. This may take the form of a comma separated list of file names, or any of the other forms described in the help on "Group Expressions". Note, the input frames cannot be specified within the GUI. See also parameter REFIN.
LOGFILE = LITERAL (Read)
The name of a log file to which will be written all the messages generated by the applications activated by the GUI. If "stdout" is supplied, then the messages will be directed to standard output (usually the screen). If a null (!) value is supplied, then no log file will be created. Note, this parameter cannot be set from the GUI’s "Options" menu. [!]
OEFITTYPE = _INTEGER (Update)
The type of mapping which should be used between O and E rays. See parameter FITTYPE for a description of the allowed values. This parameter is only accessed when processing polarimeter data (see parameter POL). [1]
OUT = LITERAL (Write)
A group specifying the names of the output intensity images to create in single-beam mode, or when processing non-polarimeter data (see parameters DUALBEAM and POL). The specified names should correspond one-for-one to the input images. See the help on "Group Expressions" for information on the allowed formats for this list. Any asterisk within the supplied string is replaced in turn by each of the input image names. If a null (!) value is given, then the intensity images are not saved. Note, the output images cannot be specified within the GUI.
OUT_E = LITERAL (Write)
A group specifying the names of the E-ray output intensity images to create in dual-beam mode (see parameter DUALBEAM). These should correspond one-for-one to the input images. See the help on "Group Expressions" for information on the allowed formats for this list. Any asterisk within the supplied string is replaced in turn by each of the input image names. If a null (!) value is given, then the E-ray intensity images are not saved. Note, the output images cannot be specified within the GUI.
OUT_O = LITERAL (Write)
A group specifying the names of the O-ray output intensity images to create in dual-beam mode (see parameter DUALBEAM). These should correspond one-for-one to the input images. See the help on "Group Expressions" for information on the allowed formats for this list. Any asterisk within the supplied string is replaced in turn by each of the input image names. If a null (!) value is given, then the E-ray intensity images are not saved. Note, the output images cannot be specified within the GUI.
OUT_S = NDF (Write)
The name of the output cube to hold the Stokes parameters calculated from the input images. If a null value is given then no Stokes parameters are calculated. Note, the output cube cannot be specified within the GUI. This parameter is only accessed when processing polarimeter data (see parameter POL).
PERCENTILES( 2 ) = _REAL (Update)
The percentiles that define the scaling limits for the displayed images. For example, [25,75] would scale between the quartile values. [5,95]
PMODE = LITERAL (Read)
The type of polarization being measured; Linear or Circular. This parameter is only accessed if an output cube holding Stokes parameters is being created (i.e. if OUT_S is not given a null (!) value). [Linear]
POL = _LOGICAL (Read)
Indicates the nature of the input Frames. Input frames containing non-polarimeter data may be aligned and sky subtracted using POLKA if parameter POL is assigned a FALSE value. This indicates that the input intensity frames are not to be treated as polarimeter data. In this case, Stokes vectors may not be produced (see parameter OUT_S). The use of the GUI is the same as in single-beam mode (see parameter DUALBEAM). [TRUE]
PSFSIZE = _INTEGER (Update)
This value controls the centroiding process which is used to find accurate centres for the features identified using the mouse. It should be set roughly to the width (in pixels) of the features which are to be used to align the images. If the accurate positions wander too far from the original position, then a smaller value should be supplied. If it is set to zero, then no centroiding is performed, and the raw feature positions are used as supplied. [3]
REFIN = NDF (Read)
An intensity frame defining the reference co-ordinate system. The images specified by parameter IN will be aligned with this image. If a null (!) value is supplied, the first image in the group supplied for parameter IN is used as the reference image. If the reference image is specified using parameter IN, it will be processed like the other images. If the reference image is specified using parameter REFIN, it will not be processed. No aligned, extracted images will be created from it, and it will not be included in the calculation of the Stokes parameters. [!]
REFCOL = LITERAL (Update)
The colour with which to mark the reference objects (i.e. image features or masks). This should be one of RED, BLUE, GREEN, CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, BLACK. Any unambiguous abbreviation can be supplied, and the value is case-insensitive. [GREEN]
SELCOL = LITERAL (Update)
The colour with which to mark the selected area of the image (if any). This should be one of RED, BLUE, GREEN, CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, BLACK. Any unambiguous abbreviation can be supplied, and the value is case-insensitive. [RED]
SKYFRAMES = NDF (Read)
A group specifying the sky frames to use. These frames are subtracted from the supplied object frames before the output images are created. If only one sky frame is supplied, then it is used for all the object frames. Otherwise, the number of sky frames must equal the number of supplied object frames, and must be given in the same order. If a null value (!) is given for SKYFRAMES, then the sky background to be subtracted from each output image is determined by fitting a surface to sky areas identified by the user within the supplied object frames. [!]
SKYPAR = _INTEGER (Update)
If no sky frames are supplied using parameter SKYFRAMES, then the sky in each output image will be fitted using a polynomial surface. The order of the fit on each axis is given by this parameter (SKYPAR). A value of 0 will result in a flat surface (i.e. a constant value) being used, 1 will result in a linear surface, 2 in a quadratic surface, etc. The supplied value must be in the range 0 to 14. [0]
SKYOFF = _LOGICAL (Update)
If a TRUE value is supplied, then the sky background is removed from each output image. Otherwise, no sky background is removed. The method used to estimate the sky background is determined by the SKYFRAMES parameter. [TRUE]
STARTHELP = _LOGICAL (Read)
If a TRUE value is supplied, then a hyper-text browser will be created with the GUI, displaying the tutorial page of the POLKA on-line help documentation. Otherwise, the browser is only created if the user accesses the on-line help information explicitly from within the GUI by using the "Help" menu or the F1 key on the keyboard. [TRUE]
STATUSAREA = _LOGICAL (Update)
If a TRUE value is supplied, then information describing the currently displayed image, current options values, etc., will be displayed in a box underneath the displayed image. The contents of this box can be selected using the "Options" menu in the GUI. [TRUE]
VIEW = LITERAL (Update)
This controls how images are placed within the image display area of the GUI when a new image is selected using the "Images" menu. It may take one of the following values:

  • ZOOMED – The new image is displayed with the current zoom factor and image centre.

  • UNZOOMED – The zoom factor and image centre are reset so that the new image just fills the image display area in at least one dimension. [ZOOMED]

XHAIR = _LOGICAL (Update)
If a TRUE value is supplied, then a cross hair will be used instead of a pointer while the mouse is over the image display area. [TRUE]
XHAIRCOL = LITERAL (Update)
The colour with which to draw the cross-hair (if required). This should be one of RED, BLUE, GREEN, CYAN, MAGENTA, YELLOW, BLACK. Any unambiguous abbreviation can be supplied, and the value is case-insensitive. [YELLOW]

Examples:

polka ’im1,im2,im3,im4’ cube out_o=! out_e=!
This example aligns and extracts the O and E ray areas from the four images ’im1’ to ’im4’, subtracts a sky background from each (estimated from areas within the object frames), and stores the corresponding Stokes vectors in ’cube’. The aligned intensity images are not saved.
polka ^in.lis out=^out.lis out_s=! dualbeam=no skyframes=^sky.lis reset
This example uses single-beam mode. It reads the names of input images from the text file ’in.lis’, subtracts the sky frames read from the text file ’sky.lis’, aligns them and stores them in the images named in the text file ’out.lis’. All other parameters are reset to their initial default values listed in the parameter descriptions above. No Stokes vectors are produced.

Notes:

Copyright

Copyright (C) 1999 Central Laboratory of the Research Councils