Archive, DM, and TOA
Connect archive data, dispersion, dedispersion, folding, and TOA extraction into one practical mental model.
What an archive is
In this documentation, an archive is the analysis-ready data container that enters the pulsar-processing workflow after backend acquisition and preliminary preparation.
It commonly contains:
- profile data
- frequency-channel information
- sub-integration information
- metadata such as source name, telescope, centre frequency, bandwidth, and DM
DM and dedispersion
Dispersion shifts the arrival time across frequency.
Without dedispersion, the same pulse is smeared across channels and profile alignment degrades. That is why dedisperse is one of the highest-frequency controls in PSRUI's Pam tab.
What folding does
Folding uses the pulsar period to stack repeated rotations in phase, making stable signal structure clearer and random noise relatively less dominant.
Many profile and TOA workflows assume data that has already been folded into a sensible phase structure.
Why TOA extraction needs a template
TOA extraction is not just "find the peak time."
A common workflow matches an observed profile against a template profile, then estimates phase shift and uncertainty. PSRUI's current TOA workflow wraps that pat-style approach.
PSRUI today: you can choose a template, run
pat, and inspect a visual residual preview in the GUI.
Continue with pat / pac.