/es

Elementary Supernova Spectrum Synthesis

Primary LanguageShellOtherNOASSERTION

======================================================
ES: Elementary Supernova Spectrum Synthesis User Guide
======================================================

.. footer:: ###Page###

.. sectnum::

.. contents:: Table of Contents

.. raw:: pdf

    PageBreak

Programs
========

- SYN++ --- Consider this a rewrite of the original SYNOW [1]_ code in
  modern C++.  It has a few further enhancements, a new structured input
  control file format, and the atomic data files have been repackaged
  and are more complete than what SYNOW has.

- SYNAPPS --- This code uses the same underlying library code used to
  build SYN++ to implement a spectrum synthesis calculation within the
  objective function of a parallel optimization framework.  So, SYNAPPS
  works like an automated SYN++.  The idea is for SYNAPPS to do the
  fitting work so a supernova spectroscopist can do thinking.

Software Dependencies
=====================

If you only want to use SYN++, then there is only one dependency.  If
you want to use SYNAPPS, there are three more, and you have to be able
to compile and run parallel applications via MPI.

Note that if you use Mac OS X, all of the packages listed below can be
obtained quite easily using MacPorts (http://www.macports.org/).  For
Linux users, consult your package management software (like "aptitude"
if you use Ubuntu).  Sorry Windows users: You are on your own here.

- CFITSIO (http://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/fitsio/)
  FITS I/O library.  Required for building SYN++ and SYNAPPS.  The
  atomic line list files are stored in FITS format, eliminating a
  support issue SYNOW had with byte rotation.

- BLAS (http://www.netlib.org/blas/)
  Basic Linear Algebra Subprograms.  Required for building SYNAPPS, but
  not SYN++.

- LAPACK (http://www.netlib.org/lapack/)
  Linear Algebra Package. Required for building SYNAPPS, but not SYN++.

- APPSPACK-5.0.1-C3 (https://software.sandia.gov/appspack/downloads/appspack-5.0.1-C3.tar.gz)
  Asynchronous Parallel Pattern Search, special Computational Cosmology
  Center version for use with SYNAPPS.  Required for building SYNAPPS,
  but not SYN++.  If you visit the APPSPACK [2]_ website, be sure you
  get the version of APPSPACK from the "other versions" page that says
  "special version only for use with SYNAPPS".  Otherwise you will have
  a harder time building it.  Note also that BLAS/LAPACK have to be
  built first.

- MPI (for example, http://www.open-mpi.org/)
  Message Passing Interface.  You need to have MPI compilers and
  libraries installed in order to use APPSPACK.

- OpenMP (http://openmp.org/wp/)
  Shared-memory parallel programming.  This is an optional dependency
  for both SYN++ and SYNAPPS.  Note that if you want to use SYNAPPS in
  hybrid parallel mode (with both MPI and OpenMP) that you may need to
  study your "mpirun" (or equivalent) command line to ensure you get
  partitioning right.

Downloads
=========

- Source code is hosted on GitHub [3]_ at
  http://github.com/rcthomas/es/

- The latest distribution version is available at
  https://github.com/rcthomas/es/releases

- The atomic line data is available at 
  http://c3.lbl.gov/es/es-data.tar.gz

Installation
============

First, follow the instructions for compiling the other software
dependencies, or install them using package manager software like
MacPorts or aptitude, depending on your system.

When you install APPSPACK, consult the "platforms" subdirectory there.
You may find a platform installation script that is suitable to your
situation.  Importantly, if you specify a --prefix=$PREFIX argument to
configure for APPSPACK, keep track of what value you used for $PREFIX,
you'll need it later.

Once the dependencies (including APPSPACK-5.0.1-C3) are installed, you
can proceed with ES.  It ought to look something like this on a
Unix-like system.  Suppose you downloaded version 1.00 of ES.  Then::

    $ tar zxvf es-1.00.tar.gz
    $ cd es-1.00
    $ ./configure
    $ make
    $ make install

You may need to pass options to configure (see "./configure -h" for the
full list you can use).  Most commonly one will need to use the --prefix
flag.  If you do not have super-user privileges, you could do something
like::

    $ ./configure --prefix=$HOME/local

Thus, the "make install" command will deposit the ES executables and
example control files into the installation path.  No libraries or
header files are installed.  If you use the above example, then you get
this structure in your file system when all is said and done::

    $HOME/
        local/
            bin/
                syn++
                synapps
                ...
            share/
                es/
                    syn++.yaml
                    synapps.yaml

An example.  Most supernova researchers I know work on Mac OS X.  I like
to use MacPorts to install my Unix-like packages.  This works alright
for me on Mac OS X Snow Leopard with MacPorts::

    ./configure 
        CXX=g++-mp-4.4 CC=gcc-mp-4.4 F77=gfortran-mp-4.4
        --prefix=$HOME/local 
        --with-cfitsio-cpp="-I/opt/local/include"
        --with-cfitsio-libs="-L/opt/local/lib -lcfitsio"
        --with-appspack-cpp="-I$HOME/local/include"
        --with-appspack-libs="-L$HOME/local/lib -lappspack"

Note that the above example is included in the script located at 
"platforms/osx_macports.sh" and you can just run that if you have the
same set up.  Note that the example assumes that APPSPACK was installed
at "--prefix=$HOME/local."  Exactly what you do depends largely on
taste.

Ted Kisner deserves thanks for helping with the ES build system.

Atomic Lines
============

ES makes use of atomic line data files.  These are available in the
format ES needs on the web (see the `Downloads`_ section).  They are
bundled into a single tar.gz file.  Once downloaded, unpack them.  You
can put them anywhere, but I personally like to place them alongside the
sample control files that come with ES.  Following the example above
where ES is installed into $HOME/local, I would do::

    $ mv es-data.tar.gz $HOME/local/share/es
    $ cd $HOME/local/share/es
    $ tar zxvf es-data.tar.gz
    $ mv es-data/lines .
    $ mv es-data/refs.dat .

Then, in the control files for the ES executables, I set::

    opacity :
        line_dir : /Users/rthomas/local/share/es/lines
        ref_file : /Users/rthomas/local/share/es/refs.dat

Running SYN++
=============

The "syn++" executable has only one required argument, the name of the
YAML [4]_ control file::

    $ syn++ syn++.yaml

This will compute one or more synthetic spectra and write them to
standard output.  If more than one spectrum is output, they are
separated by a blank line.  The format is multi-column ASCII, with the
first two columns being wavelength and flux.  Sending the result to a
file is done by redirect, for example::

    $ syn++ syn++.yaml > my_spectrum.dat

And one can redirect the output to a process like xmgrace [5]_::

    $ syn++ syn++.yaml | xmgrace observed_spectrum.dat - 

If you run "syn++" from within a scripting language like Python or
Ruby, you can capture the output via pipe (no temporary files) and do
something interesting with it.  Maybe you could automate writing your
papers this way.

There are some command-line options.

- The "--verbose" option provides a counter (written to standard error)
  so you know that SYN++ is doing something and how it's progressing.  

- The "--wl-from=SPECTRUM" option makes SYN++ read in the specified
  spectrum file (three column ASCII format) and use the first column as
  the wavelength output grid.  Especially handy if you need the
  wavelengths of the spectrum you are fitting to match up with the
  synthetic one for subtracting.

If you've compiled with OpenMP enabled, you can use multi-core computing
to improve SYN++ performance.  Don't expect it to scale without bound,
I only parallelized part of the code (the slowest part).  To take
advantage of it, you need to set OMP_NUM_THREADS to something like the
number of cores you want to use.  If you have a quad-core Opteron, you
can do something like::

    $ export OMP_NUM_THREADS=4
    $ syn++ syn++.yaml > my_spectrum.dat

It should run faster than with OMP_NUM_THREADS=1.  Your default value
may already equal the number of cores available on your machine.

A sample SYN++ control file is distributed with the code.  After the
code is installed, it should be found under the "share/es" directory of
the installation, with the name "syn++.yaml."  Copy it somewhere and
open it up.  Note that the ordering of the sections of the control file
is not really important, but each variable belonging to a section must
be listed under the section header.  That is, you cannot put "min_wl"
into the "source" section; it goes under "output."

Now, let's go over the example control file, section by section.  Note
that by convention, all wavelength quantities in the SYN++ and SYNAPPS
control files are in Angstroms, all temperatures are in 10^3 K, and all
velocities are in 10^3 km/s.

The "output" section controls the wavelength grid of the synthetic
spectrum::

    output :
        min_wl      : 2500.0        # minimum wavelength in AA
        max_wl      : 10000.0       # maximum wavelength in AA
        wl_step     : 5.0           # wavelength spacing in AA

Note that the "--wl-from" command line option will override this
section.  Each of the variables should be easy enough to understand.

The "grid" section controls the velocity, line opacity, and line source
function grids::

    grid :
        bin_width   : 0.3           # opacity bin size in kkm/s
        v_size      : 100           # size of line-forming region grid
        v_outer_max : 30.0          # fastest ejecta velocity in kkm/s

Most of the time you will not mess with any of these variables.  The
most important one to know about is "v_outer_max," which is set to a
value at least as big as any "v_outer" you are going to specify in any
of the setups.  This setting establishes the wavelength limits of the
atomic line list to be loaded for all setups.  You might think that the
output wavelength limits were enough to establish this, but actually
more lines in the blue and red are needed to establishe the source
function and compute the full spectrum.

The next section is the "opacity" section::

    opacity :
        line_dir    : /usr/local/share/es/lines     # path to atomic line data
        ref_file    : /usr/local/share/es/refs.dat  # path to ref. line data
        form        : exp           # parameterization (only exp for now)
        v_ref       : 10.0          # reference velocity for parameterization
        log_tau_min : -2.0          # opacity threshold

The first two variables contain the path to the atomic line list
directory on disk.  The "form" variable should always be set to "exp"
until we add new parameterizations; it is the same for all opacity
profiles in all setups.  The value of "v_ref" is the reference velocity
for all opacity profiles, they are scaled to the value of "log_tau" at
this velocity (given by each profile in each setup).  Bins with
integrated opacity (over all lines in a bin) smaller than "log_tau_min"
are ignored in the calculation of the source function and spectrum.

Next is the "source" section, which is very simple::

    source :
        mu_size     : 10            # number of angles for source integration

Again, you don't really need to mess with this.  However, you might find
a performance boost if you are using OpenMP and this number is set to a
multiple of the number of cores available.

And next is "spectrum" which controls how the output spectrum is
calculated::

    spectrum :
        p_size      : 60            # number of phot. impact parameters for spectrum
        flatten     : No            # divide out continuum or not

First is the number of impact parameter rays subtending the photosphere
as viewed in projection from infinity.  More rays are added going out to
"v_outer" as needed to integrate the projected flux.  The "flatten"
option computes the spectrum without the underlying thermal continuum or
any warping parameters.

Each synthetic spectrum computation is governed by a "setup."  Multiple
setups can be placed into a SYN++ YAML control file.  They are simply
expressed as YAML lists: Each setup is preceded on its first line by a
"-" character.  This is useful, since if different setups all use the
same ions, the line list is only loaded once per run of SYN++, not per
setup.  Even if the list of ions changes from setup to setup, those ions
in common between subsequent setups will not be dumped and re-loaded.
Here's the start of the "setups" section and the first setup::

    setups :
        -   a0      :  1.0          # constant term
            a1      :  0.0          # linear warp term
            a2      :  0.0          # quadratic warp term
            v_phot  :   8.0         # velocity at photosphere (kkm/s)
            v_outer :  30.0         # outer velocity of line forming region (kkm/s)
            t_phot  :  12.0         # blackbody photosphere temperature (kK)
            ions    :  [ 1601, 2201, 2401, 2601 ]   # ions (100*Z+I, I=0 is neutral)
            active  :  [  Yes,  Yes,  Yes,  Yes ]   # actually use the ion or not
            log_tau :  [  0.1,  1.0,  1.0,  1.0 ]   # ref. line opacity at v_ref
            v_min   :  [ 10.0, 10.0, 10.0, 10.0 ]   # lower cutoff (kkm/s)
            v_max   :  [ 30.0, 30.0, 30.0, 30.0 ]   # upper cutoff (kkm/s)
            aux     :  [  1.0, 10.0, 10.0, 10.0 ]   # e-folding for exp form
            temp    :  [ 10.0, 10.0, 10.0, 10.0 ]   # Boltzmann exc. temp. (kK)

The parameters "a0," "a1," and "a2" are the coefficients of a quadratic
warping function that can be multiplied by the synthetic spectrum once
it is computed.  This can be helpful if the target spectrum has a
low-frequency trend that SYN++ cannot replicate (a sharp photosphere
blackbody and no electron scattering has its limitations).  

Parameters "v_phot" and "v_outer" are the inner and outer boundaries of
the line-forming region, respectively.  Remember that no "v_outer" may
exceed "v_outer_max" in any of the setups.  Parameter "t_phot" is the
Blackbody temperature of the photospheric lower boundary of the
line-forming region.

The next two variables, "ions" and "active" are not really parameters,
but rather ion labels for each opacity profile, and a boolean value for
whether or not to actually turn the opacity profile on or off.  Being
able to do this when iteratively fitting can be handy.  The format of
the ion species is 100 * atomic number + ionization state, with an
ionization state of "0" being neutral.

The last five variables control each opacity profile.  The opacity
profiles are listed from left to right, in columns.  The same ion may be
listed more than once, but there are precedence rules for opacity
profiles with repeated ions.  First, each successive profile which
repeats an ion gets precedence to set the reference opacities between
its specified values of "v_min" and "v_max."  Second, the rightmost
temperature listed for an ion wins.  These two rules also hold for
SYNOW, and though arbitrary we have kept to them.

The opacity profile parameters in more detail.  Parameter "log_tau" is
the base-10 logarithm of the reference line opacity at the value of
"v_ref" set in the "opacity" section.  Parameters "v_min" and "v_max"
are the limits in velocity of the opacity profile, but "v_phot" and
"v_outer" set hard limits.  The "aux" parameter is a generic name for
whatever the opacity "form" needs it to be.  For an "exp" form, it is
the e-folding length of the opacity profile.  Finally, "temp" is the
Boltzmann excitation temperature for parameterizing line strengths.

Running SYNAPPS
===============

The "synapps" executable has only one required argument, the name of the
YAML control file::

    $ mpirun -np 16 synapps synapps.yaml

Your command line may look different, depending on MPI.  While SYNAPPS
runs it channels APPSPACK, which is set to be quite chatty, and when it
starts up it will output a bunch of diagnostics about the problem.  Then
it will start solving, and you can watch as each new best minimum of the
objective function is found.  When it's done, it will output a summary.

If you have enabled OpenMP and want to use OpenMP to increase
performance of the objective function, you need to hierarchically
distribute your cores.  This should not be too hard, but it may vary
from system to system::

    $ export OMP_NUM_THREADS=2
    $ mpirun -npernode 4 synapps synapps.yaml

Here we specify that each worker gets 2 OpenMP threads with which to
compute the objective function, but there are 4 MPI tasks per node.  The
above example is for a case where there are 8 cores total per node.

You will likely want to capture this output into a log file, because it
can come in handy later.  For example, in bash::

    $ mpirun -np 16 synapps synapps.yaml | tee synapps.log

The tee command will let you watch the progreess of the code but also
save it to the "synapps.log" file.

Let's examine the "synapps.yaml" example YAML control file that came
with ES, it should be under "share/es" in the install tree.  The
sections "grid," "opacity," "source," and "spectrum" are the same as
with SYN++, so we skip those.  Also, note the absence of the "output"
section.  This is because the wavelength grid for the output will be
determined by the target spectrum being fit.  There are two new
sections, "evaluator" and "config" which I discuss below.

For "evaluator," things look like this::

    evaluator :
        target_file : "target.dat"  # spectrum to fit (format: wl, flux, flux_error)
        vector_norm : 2             # objective function norm
        regions     :
            apply   : [   Yes,   No,  Yes ] # fit this wavelength region or not
            weight  : [     0,    1,    1 ] # weight the region by this number
            lower   : [     0, 3900, 5600 ] # min. wavelength for region definition
            upper   : [ 10000, 4100, 6400 ] # max. wavelength for region definition

This section controls how the objective function is evaluated.  This
depends on the target file being fit, what vector norm is being used,
and the regions of the target spectrum to be fit.

The target file is a three-column ASCII input file with columns
wavelength, flux, and flux error; note the flux error is not the
variance, it should be like standard error.  Of course the spectrum must
be in rest-frame: There are better codes out there for determining the
redshift and phase of your spectrum! [6]_

The "vector_norm" parameter is the exponent of an L-norm specification.
So, a value of 1 is like absolute value, a value of 2 is like a
chi-squared, etc.  Note that the residuals that go into the calculation
are all weighted by the standard error.

The "regions" sub-section specifies whether there are parts of the
target spectrum to be ignored (for telluric lines, or simply there is
known to be no line opacity to fit in certain parts).  The regions are
listed in columns, and if no regions are listed then the entire spectrum
is fit.  The way regions work is that they are applied from left to
right by logical "or" if they are applied.  In the above example, first
we mask out everything between a wavelength of 0 and 10000 (that is,
weight it by 0).  The next region is skipped (apply=No) altogether.  The
last region is applied, activating SYNAPPS to fit the region between
5600 and 6400 AA.  

To discuss the "config" section, we break it up into parts.  The top of
the "config" section looks like::

    config :
        fit_file    : "target.fit"      # when done, put answer here
        cache_file  : "target.cache"    # evaluated point cache

Pretty straightforward, the final best fit will be output to the file
given by "fit_file" and the name of the cache input/output file is
given by "cache_file."  

Next comes the configuration of scalar parameters::

    a0      : { fixed:  No, start:    1, lower:   0, upper: 10, scale: 10 }
    a1      : { fixed:  No, start: -2.6, lower: -10, upper: 10, scale: 20 }
    a2      : { fixed:  No, start: -5.0, lower: -10, upper: 10, scale: 20 }
    v_phot  : { fixed:  No, start: 10.7, lower:   5, upper: 15, scale: 10 }
    v_outer : { fixed: Yes, start:   30, lower:  15, upper: 30, scale:  1 }
    t_phot  : { fixed:  No, start: 11.4, lower:   5, upper: 25, scale: 20 }

These parameters should be recognizable from the discussion of the SYN++
YAML control file.  Each parameter has 5 specifications for SYNAPPS.
First is "fixed," which is "Yes" if the parameter is to be left at the
"start" value and "No" if you want SYNAPPS to fit for it.  Keyword
"start" is the initial value for the parameter.  The "lower" and "upper"
keywords give the lower and upper bounds constraints for the parameter,
and the "scale" keyword basically gives SYNAPPS a way to rescale the
parameter in a numerically convenient way (think of it as a normalizing
factor).  In the above example, "v_outer" will be held fixed to 30,000
km/s, but all the other parameters will be fit for by SYNAPPS.

Next after the scalar parameters, we see some lists.  These are not of
parameters, but are switches and labels that go with each of the opacity
profiles that follow::

    ions        :  [ 1401, 1100, ]
    active      :  [  Yes,   No, ]
    detach      :  [   No,   No, ]

The "ions" labels and "active" switches should be familiar from the
SYN++ YAML control file discussion.  The "detach" switch is used to
disengage a linear equality constraint that fixes "v_min" of the opacity
profile to the value of "v_phot."  Disengaging this constraint will
"detach" the profile and allow "v_min" and "v_phot" to be fit
independently.  To be clear: Setting it to "no" forces "v_min" to be
exactly equal to "v_phot."  If you set detach to "no" then be sure
the "start" value of "v_min" equals "v_phot" or you will get an
"infeasible point" crash.

Finally we discuss one of the opacity profile parameters only
("log_tau"), the extension to the other parameters is trivial::

    log_tau     :
        fixed   :  [   No,   No, ]
        start   :  [ 1.14,    0, ]
        lower   :  [   -2,   -2, ]
        upper   :  [    2,    2, ]
        scale   :  [    1,    1, ]

Each opacity profile has parameters "log_tau," "v_min," "v_max," "aux,"
and "temp."  Each of these in turn has the 5 keywords to specify, as in
the case of the scalar parameters.  They have the same function as in
that case.  

In all cases, be sure that the "start" value is between the "lower" and
"upper" bounds constraints or you will get an infeasible point error.

Python Code Included
====================

There are a couple scripts and modules that I wrote for managing the
YAML control files.  One of them takes a SYNAPPS YAML control file and
the SYNAPPS log and turns the last best fit into a SYN++ YAML control
file.  You can then turn ions on or off or tweak the fit if you like, or
think you can do better than SYNAPPS.

Citing SYN++ or SYNAPPS
=======================

A code description paper is in the works.  When it is published, please
cite that.  Until then, please make some form of acknowledgement that
you used this code.

Frequently Asked Questions
==========================

Is a precompiled binary version available?
------------------------------------------

Sorry, no can do.  APPSPACK is licensed under LGPL, and ES is licensed
under BSD.  I cannot link APPSPACK into ES and distribute the product as
a binary.  If you have problems compiling, please don't hesitate to ask
for help.

How can I get a PDF copy of this manual?
----------------------------------------

You can create it yourself from the README using rst2pdf, or you can
get a copy of it here: http://c3.lbl.gov/es/es_manual.pdf.

Why does SYNAPPS crash right away, with an "infeasible point" message?
----------------------------------------------------------------------

You may have specified in your control file a starting point that is
considered infeasible.  That is, you might have a variable set outside
its bounds constraints.  

Another way this could happen is if you are re-using a previously
written cache file, but the number of parameters cached is different.
Also, be aware that if you re-use a cache file and do something like
swap one ion out for another, the cache will be invalidated and you
cannot re-use it with the new run.  

These errors are not that helpful, but they are at least thrown as
exceptions we could catch and handle.  It's on the roadmap to work on
this issue.

Why doesn't SYNAPPS figure out the ions for me?
-----------------------------------------------

SYNAPPS uses an optimizer which does not handle categorical variables.
Using categorical variables would be one way to potentially solve the
problem.  We're looking at other optimizers all the time.  Stay tuned.

Another approach would be to work out a bunch of heuristics for it, but
that'd all be pre-processing and wouldn't have to be part of SYNAPPS.
It's an interesting problem.

How do I stop SYNAPPS and still get the fit output?
---------------------------------------------------

The answer is sort of at an Easter-egg level.  I would like to think of
a better way to do this.  The first step is to run the "ps" command to
find out the process ID's of all the MPI tasks running synapps.  Then,
take the first synapps process ID (NOT the "mpirun" one) that is listed
in numerically ascending order.  Then send it a TERM signal like::

    $ kill -15 PID

If you did it right, SYNAPPS will catch the signal and tell all the
workers to shut down.  The master will run an evaluation of the most
recent best fit it has and write it out to the file requested in the
"config" section of the YAML control file.

On most batch queue systems you don't get enough time to write out
before the KILL signal is sent, and I think that goes to the process
leader (not the SYNAPPS master process).  

Why use YAML for control file input?
------------------------------------

SYN++ and SYNAPPS use structured input files.  The older SYNOW code uses
a Fortran feature called "namelist input" which can map values into
program variables at runtime.  I know of nothing similar that is just
built into C++ that could compete (let alone go farther).  The easiest
solution is to flatten the input into a sequence of unique key key-value
pairs, but this produces rather large control files.  More complicated
solutions involve writing your own parser, which I believe is best left
to the professionals.

So, early on I experimented with embedding the Lua [7]_ interpreter
into the code.  This worked rather well, and raised a numer of very
interesting possibilities for user customization.  But, I found that
it would be very useful to be able to have a code serialize an internal
state, and then use that serialized state as input to another (or the
same) code.  Lua doesn't do this.  I also had a hard time convincing
myself people would learn Lua (but really, check it out, especially if
you are a developer).  I also doubted people would want to mess with
XML, I wanted it to be easier to read.

YAML [8]_ seemed the best option.  It handles structure intuitively
by indenting and blocking.  YAML documents can be created or ingested by
programs written in many languages, and we include some Python scripts
that help users manage these.  The only thing it's lacking is that its
output is not completely deterministically formatted, so some of the
Python included in ES is dedicated to just formatting it nicely.  One
day we may set up a web-service where spectra could be fit using cloud
computing (I am not joking here) and YAML is easily converted to JSON,
so it might be an additional advantage.

I hope that the choice of YAML isn't alienating and that people can get
used to the idea of indentation for structuring their input.  It's
common in Python, so people do seem to be able to get used to it.

What does "ES" mean?
--------------------

ES stands for "Elementary Supernova," a term used by Jeffery and Branch
(1990) [9]_ to describe a conceptual model that serves as the basis for a
number of computer codes used in the analysis of supernova spectra. See
Branch, Baron, and Jeffery (2003) [10]_ and references therein to learn more.

SYNOW is the classic example ES code. Originally written by David
Branch, and then updated and modernized (in 1993) by Adam Fisher [11]_ at
the University of Oklahoma, SYNOW has become a widely used tool among
supernova scientists. Learning to use SYNOW is a rite of passage for
many budding supernova spectroscopists.

Author
======

ES was developed by R. C. Thomas at the Computational Cosmology Center,
Lawrence Berkeley Lab.

License
=======

ES is distributed under the terms of the BSD software license.  See the
LICENSE file for further details and contact information.

Copyright
=========

ES: Elementary Supernova Spectrum Synthesis, Copyright (c) 2010, The
Regents of the University of California, through Lawrence Berkeley
National Laboratory (subject to receipt of any required approvals from
the U.S. Dept. of Energy). All rights reserved.

If you have questions about your rights to use or distribute this
software, please contact Berkeley Lab's Technology Transfer Department
at TTD@lbl.gov.

NOTICE. This software was developed under partial funding from the U.S.
Department of Energy. As such, the U.S. Government has been granted for
itself and others acting on its behalf a paid-up, nonexclusive,
irrevocable, worldwide license in the Software to reproduce, prepare
derivative works, and perform publicly and display publicly. Beginning
five (5) years after the date permission to assert copyright is obtained
from the U.S. Department of Energy, and subject to any subsequent five
(5) year renewals, the U.S. Government is granted for itself and others
acting on its behalf a paid-up, nonexclusive, irrevocable, worldwide
license in the Software to reproduce, prepare derivative works,
distribute copies to the public, perform publicly and display publicly,
and to permit others to do so. 

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

.. [1] http://www.nhn.ou.edu/~parrent/synow.html

.. [2] https://software.sandia.gov/appspack/version5.0/index.html

.. [3] http://github.com/

.. [4] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YAML

.. [5] http://plasma-gate.weizmann.ac.il/Grace/

.. [6] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2007ApJ...666.1024B

.. [7] http://www.lua.org/

.. [8] http://www.yaml.org/

.. [9] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1990sjws.conf..149J

.. [10] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2003LNP...598...47B 

.. [11] http://adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2000PhDT.........6F