Factor: Facet Calibration for LOFAR

Factor is a tool for producing low-noise, high-resolution images from HBA LOFAR data using the facet calibration scheme described in van Weeren et al. (2016) and Williams et al. (2016).

Introduction

• Acknowledgements
• Capabilities of Factor
• Steps in a Factor reduction

Obtaining Factor

• Downloading and installing
• Changelog
  • Version 2.0
  • Version 1.4
  • Version 1.3
  • Version 1.2
  • Version 1.1
  • Version 1.0
• Issues and feature requests

Setting Up and Running Factor

• Tutorials
• Data preparation
• The Factor parset
  • [global]
  • [calibration]
  • [imaging]
  • [directions]
  • [cluster]
  • [checkfactor]
  • [<Your_MS_Name>]
• The Factor directions file
  • Columns
• Starting a Factor run with runfactor
• Checking a Factor run with checkfactor
• Resuming an interrupted run
• Resetting a direction
• Output
  • Directory structure
  • Final, primary-beam-corrected images
  • Self-calibration solutions and sky models
  • Calibrated visibility data
  • Residual data
• Archiving a Factor run with archivefactor
• Unarchiving a Factor archive with unarchivefactor
• Tips for running Factor
  • Match the number of chunks to the number of cores
  • Use the ram drive
  • Use compression
  • Use baseline-dependent averaging or IDG in WSClean
  • Self calibrate in parallel
  • Optimize processing for the target
• Getting Help

Factor Structure

• Factor structure
• Operations
  • outlierpeel
  • facetpeel
  • facetselfcal
  • facetsub
  • facetimage
  • fieldmosaic