polarizationtools

Python3 tools to deal with astrophysical polarization data.

Modules

• evpatools.py Tools to analyze EVPA time series data.
• misc.py Miscellaneous tools.
• randomwalk.py Simulate random walks in the Stokes Q-U plane.
• stokesconversion.py Convert Stokes parameters into linear polarization parameters and vice versa.

Module details

• evpatools.py
  • EVPAanalyzer class:
    • Shift EVPA data points to account for the 180 degrees ambiguity, following [1].
    • Identify rotations according to the definitions of [4] or [1].
• misc.py
  • debias_pol function: Debias the fractional linear polarization, following [2].
• randomwalk.py
  • RWsim class: Simulate random walks in the Stokes Q-U plane, following [1].
• stokesconversion.py
  • StokesConversion class: Convert Stokes parameters into linear polarization parameters with proper treatment of the uncertainties as explained in [3].
  • StokesConversionSimple class: Convert Stokes parameters into linear polarization parameters and vice versa with simple Gaussian error propagation.

Citation

Bibtex:

@software{2024ascl.soft02006K,
       author = {{Kiehlmann}, Sebastian},
        title = "{polarizationtools: Polarization analysis and simulation tools in python}",
 howpublished = {Astrophysics Source Code Library, record ascl:2402.006},
         year = 2024,
        month = feb,
          eid = {ascl:2402.006},
       adsurl = {https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/2024ascl.soft02006K},
      adsnote = {Provided by the SAO/NASA Astrophysics Data System}
}

This software package is indexed on ASCL and ADS.

License

polarizationtools is licensed under the BSD 3-Clause License - see the LICENSE file.

References

1. Kiehlmann et al, 2016
2. Pavlidou et al, 2014
3. Blinov et al, 2021
4. Blinov et al, 2015