Miscellaneous¶
Commands and helpers that don't fit the other categories.
findblends — Search for blended transits¶
Syntax
cmd.findblends(matchrad, period="list", radec=False, nharm=1,
xycol=None, starlist=None, zeromag=None,
nofluxconvert=False, save_matches=False)
Description
Determine whether a detected periodic signal in a light curve is likely due to flux contamination (blending) from a nearby variable star. For each light curve, findblends looks at all neighbours within matchrad (arcseconds when radec=True, pixels otherwise), measures their Fourier amplitude at the supplied period, and reports the brightest variable in flux space. A list-mode run with x/y (or RA/Dec) columns is required.
CLI equivalent: -findblends.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
matchrad |
float |
Matching radius. Arcseconds when radec=True, pixels otherwise. |
period |
float or str |
Transit period source. Valid values: "list" (read from input list column), "fix <period>" (fixed numeric value), "fixcolumn <col>" (column name or number). Default "list". The "fixcolumn NAME" form is resolved both inside a single Pipeline and across chain steps (e.g. lc.BLS(...).findblends(..., period="fixcolumn BLS_Period_1_0")); in the chained form the column name (not a numeric index) is required. A missing column raises LookupError. |
radec |
bool |
Treat the x/y columns as RA and Dec in degrees; matchrad is then in arcseconds. |
nharm |
int |
Number of harmonics for the Fourier amplitude measurement. Default 1; 0 = pure sinusoid. |
xycol |
tuple or None |
(xcol, ycol) — column names or numbers for the x/y (or RA/Dec) columns in the input list. |
starlist |
str or None |
Path to an external star-list file (lcname x y per line) used as the catalogue of blending candidates. Default: match against the input light-curve list. |
zeromag |
float or None |
Zero-point magnitude for the magnitude-to-flux conversion (vartools default 25.0). |
nofluxconvert |
bool |
Skip the magnitude-to-flux conversion (input is already in flux units). |
save_matches |
bool, str, or Output |
Auxiliary file output. True captures the matched-star list as result.files["findblends_matches_N"]. See Auxiliary output files. |
Output
Suffix N is the pipeline command index:
| Column | Description |
|---|---|
FindBlends_Period_N |
Period used for the Fourier amplitude measurement. |
FindBlends_LCname_N |
Name of the brightest blended variable (in flux). |
FindBlends_FluxAmp_N |
Flux amplitude of that variable. |
When save_matches is enabled:
| File key | Description |
|---|---|
result.files["findblends_matches_N"] |
DataFrame with the per-target matched-star list and their flux amplitudes. |
Examples
Example 1. The list EXAMPLES/lc_list_testblend contains two LCs along with x/y coordinates. Searched with LS and then check for blends — any stars within 2 pixels are potential blends, and the period from LS is used. The result reports EXAMPLES/2 as the source of the variability for both LCs since it has the higher flux amplitude.
batch = (vt.Pipeline()
.LS(0.1, 10.0, 0.1, npeaks=1)
.findblends(matchrad=2.0, period="fixcolumn LS_Period_1_0")
).run_filelist("EXAMPLES/lc_list_testblend")
columnsuffix — Set output column suffix¶
Syntax
Description
Replace the default 0-based command-index suffix on subsequent commands' output column names with a user-supplied string. By default each command's output column names carry its pipeline position as a suffix (e.g. LS_Period_1_0, LS_Period_1_1); columnsuffix substitutes suffix instead, making column names predictable regardless of the command's position in the pipeline. The suffix applies to all commands that follow until another columnsuffix is encountered.
This command does not produce any per-light-curve statistics output of its own.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
suffix |
str |
Suffix string to append to subsequent commands' output column names in place of the numeric command index. |
Output
No statistics or auxiliary file output. The command modifies the column-naming convention used by all later commands in the pipeline.
Examples
lc = vt.LightCurve.from_file("EXAMPLES/2")
pipe = vt.Pipeline().columnsuffix("ls").LS(0.5, 10.0, 1e-3)
result = pipe.run(lc)
period = float(result.vars["LS_Period_1_ls"])
If your pipeline contains multiple period-search commands with different suffixes, you can read each result unambiguously:
lc = vt.LightCurve.from_file("EXAMPLES/2")
pipe = (vt.Pipeline()
.columnsuffix("ls")
.LS(0.5, 10.0, 1e-3)
.columnsuffix("aov")
.aov(0.5, 10.0, 1e-3, 4.0))
result = pipe.run(lc)
ls_period = float(result.vars["LS_Period_1_ls"])
aov_period = float(result.vars["Period_1_aov"])
Raw — Pass arbitrary CLI arguments¶
Syntax
Description
Escape hatch for commands not yet wrapped in the Python API or for experimental options. The supplied tokens are appended verbatim to the vartools command line. args may be either a whitespace-delimited string (split on whitespace) or a list of pre-tokenised strings.
Because pyvartools cannot inspect the command, Raw does not contribute named outputs to result.vars; any data produced by the underlying command must be parsed manually from result.stdout or auxiliary files.
Parameters
| Parameter | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
args |
str or list of str |
Raw vartools CLI tokens. A string is split on whitespace; a list is used as-is. |
Output
No structured output. Whatever the underlying vartools command writes appears in result.stdout and any files it produces.
Examples