Parameter file usage

To run Enterprise from a command line using a parameter file on a first pair of .par-.tim files in your data directory, please go to examples/ and run:

$ python run_example_paramfile.py --prfile example_paramfile.dat --num 0

Parameter file options

  • {x} (a number in curly brackets): a separator, indicating that the following parameters are only for model ‘x’. If we specify more than one model and choose ptmcmcsampler as a sampler, enterprise is launched in a model comparison mode using the product-space method and class HyperModel from enterprise_extensions.

  • timing_package: a keyword argument of enterprise.pulsar.Pulsar(), a default option is tempo2, another option is pint.

  • paramfile_label: a unique label for the output directory, associated with the given parameter file. The label inside a noise model file(s) is (are) also added to the output directory name.

  • datadir: a directory with .par and .tim files, or a path to pickled pulsars. In case it is a directory, make sure to have only one .par and .tim file per pulsar, with the same base name.

  • out: output directory with Enterprise/Bilby results.

  • array_analysis: whether to run analysis on a pulsar timing array, or on a single pulsar (True for array, False for single pulsars).

  • noisefiles: a path to .json noise files needed to fix white noise parameters. White noise parameters (EFAC, EQUAD, ECORR) are fixed in case you add lines efac: -1, equad: -1, and ecorr: -1 to a parameter file.

  • sampler: choose ptmcmcsampler or any of the samplers compatible with Bilby. Also, you can add any argument of a sampler as a line in a parameter file (e.g., AMweight for ptmcmcsampler), they are automatically recognized.

  • model_file: a path to enterprise_warp json noise model files, one for each model (under {x)}. See examples.

  • psrlist: if provided, only pulsars with names from this text file will be analyzed. A file format is a column of pulsar names.

  • ssephem: Solar System ephemeris model, the default one is DE436.

  • clock: a clock argument for enterprise, it is passed to libstempo or pint (timing packages). At the moment, it is not supported for single-pulsar noise analysis (check the use of Pulsar() in enterprise_warp.py). A default option is None.

  • fref: reference radio frequency for “chromatic” (e.g., DM) noise, used in enterprise_models.py and it can be accessed in your own child class of StandardModels.

Somewhat less useful parameters: - overwrite: an option to overwrite an old Enterprise output. It is not maintained at the moment. - load_toa_filenames: keep a list of raw TOA file names (first column in a .tim file, at least for PPTA data) in a variable self.filenames in a parameter file. It was used for advanced noise modelling. - mcmc_covm_csv: a MCMC covariance matrix from ptmcmcsampler. The idea is to use a covariance matrix for single-pulsar noise analyses to speed up full-PTA analysis. However, it requires a modification to enterprise_extensions, so it is currently not supported. - ****

Parameter file also automatically recognizes: - Priors. Default parameters of prior distributions are set in ModelParams class or its child class where you specify your custom noise models. - Sampler keyword arguments. I.e., dlogz. They should only be specified after the sampler.