Tractor Catalog Format

<region>/tractor/<AAA>/tractor-<brick>.fits

FITS binary table containing Tractor photometry. Before using these catalogs, note that there may be known issues regarding their content and derivation. Note that all flux-based quantities in the catalogs are on the AB system (we specify that WISE fluxes are AB in the table for clarity, as such quantities are often quoted on the Vega system).

Goodness-of-Fits and Morphological type

The dchisq values represent the χ² sum of all pixels in the source's blob for various models. This 5-element vector contains the χ² difference between the best-fit point source (type="PSF"), round exponential galaxy model ("REX"), de Vaucouleurs model ("DEV"), exponential model ("EXP"), and a Sersic model ("SER"), in that order. Note that the Sersic model replaces the composite ("COMP") model used in DR8 (and before). The "REX" model is a round exponential galaxy profile with a variable radius and is meant to capture slightly-extended but low signal-to-noise objects. The dchisq values are the χ² difference versus no source in this location---that is, it is the improvement from adding the given source to our model of the sky. The first element (for PSF) corresponds to a traditional notion of detection significance. Note that the dchisq values are negated so that positive values indicate better fits. We penalize models with negative flux in a band by subtracting rather than adding its χ² improvement in that band.

The rchisq values are interpreted as the reduced χ² pixel-weighted by the model fit, computed as the following sum over pixels in the blob for each object:

The above sum is over all images contributing to a particular filter, and can be negative-valued for sources that have a flux measured as negative in some bands where they are not detected.

The final, additional moropholigical type is "DUP." This type is set for Gaia sources that are coincident with, and so have been fit by, an extended source. No optical flux is assigned to DUP sources, but they are retained to ensure that all Gaia sources appear in the catalogs even if Tractor prefers an alternate fit.

Galactic Extinction Coefficients

The Galactic extinction values are derived from the SFD98 maps, but with updated coefficients to convert E(B-V) to the extinction in each filter. These are reported in linear units of transmission, with 1 representing a fully transparent region of the Milky Way and 0 representing a fully opaque region. The value can slightly exceed unity owing to noise in the SFD98 maps, although it is never below 0.

Eddie Schlafly has computed the extinction coefficients for the DECam filters through airmass=1.3, computed for a 7000K source spectrum as was done in the Appendix of Schlafly & Finkbeiner (2011). These coefficients are A / E(B-V) = 3.995, 3.214, 2.165, 1.592, 1.211, 1.064 (note that these are slightly different from the coefficients in Schlafly & Finkbeiner 2011). The coefficients are multiplied by the SFD98 E(B-V) values at the coordinates of each object to derive the \(g\), \(r\) and \(z\) mw_transmission values in the Legacy Surveys catalogs. The coefficients at different airmasses only change by a small amount, with the largest effect in \(g\)-band where the coefficient would be 3.219 at airmass=1 and 3.202 at airmass=2.

We calculate Galactic extinction for BASS and MzLS as if they are on the DECam filter system.

The coefficients for the four WISE filters are derived from Fitzpatrick (1999), as recommended by Schlafly & Finkbeiner (2011), considered better than either the Cardelli et al. (1989) curves or the newer Fitzpatrick & Massa (2009) NIR curve (which is not vetted beyond 2 microns). These coefficients are A / E(B-V) = 0.184, 0.113, 0.0241, 0.00910.

Ellipticities

The ellipticities for each galaxy type (i.e. shape_e1, shape_e2) are different from the usual eccentricity, \(e \equiv \sqrt{1 - (b/a)^2}\). In gravitational lensing studies, the ellipticity is taken to be a complex number:

Where ϕ is the position angle with a range of 180°, due to the ellipse's symmetry. Going between \(r, \epsilon_1, \epsilon_2\) and \(r, b/a, \phi\):

Footnotes