2018/08/13 by G. Cupani, V. D’Odorico, Cupani, Guido +13
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Engineering · #FOS: Physical sciences #GNSS positioning and interference #Geophysical and Geoelectrical Methods #Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM) #Spacecraft and Cryogenic Technologies
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1808.04249
openalex publication_date 2018/08/13 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The data analysis software (DAS) for VLT ESPRESSO is aimed to set a new benchmark in the treatment of spectroscopic data towards the extremely-large-telescope era, providing carefully designed, fully interactive recipes to take care of complex analysis operations (e.g. radial velocity estimation in stellar spectra, interpretation of the absorption features in quasar spectra). A few months away from the instrument's first light, the DAS is now mature for science validation, with most algorithms already implemented and operational. In this paper, I will showcase the DAS features which are currently employed on high-resolution HARPS and UVES spectra to assess the scientific reliability of the recipes and their range of application. I will give a glimpse on the science that will be possible when ESPRESSO data become available, with a particular focus on the novel approach that has been adopted to simultaneously fit the emission continuum and the absorption lines in the Lyman-alpha forest of quasar spectra.