Last modified: December 2025

URL: https://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/sherpa/ahelp/xstbvarabs.html
AHELP for CIAO 4.18 Sherpa

xstbvarabs

Context: models

Synopsis

The XSPEC TBvarabs model: ISM grain absorption.

Syntax

xstbvarabs

The xstbvarabs model is a multiplicative model component.

Description

The model is described at [1] .


Example

>>> create_model_component("xstbvarabs", "mdl")
>>> print(mdl)

Create a component of the xstbvarabs model and display its default parameters. The output is:

mdl
   Param        Type          Value          Min          Max      Units
   -----        ----          -----          ---          ---      -----
   mdl.nH       thawed            1            0        1e+06 10^22 atoms / cm^2
   mdl.He       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.C        frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.N        frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.O        frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Ne       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Na       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Mg       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Al       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Si       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.S        frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Cl       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Ar       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Ca       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Cr       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Fe       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Co       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Ni       frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.H2       frozen          0.2            0            1           
   mdl.rho      frozen            1            0            5     g/cm^3
   mdl.amin     frozen        0.025            0         0.25        mum
   mdl.amax     frozen         0.25            0            1        mum
   mdl.PL       frozen          3.5            0            5           
   mdl.H_dep    frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.He_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.C_dep    frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.N_dep    frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.O_dep    frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Ne_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Na_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Mg_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Al_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Si_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.S_dep    frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Cl_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Ar_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Ca_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Cr_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Fe_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Co_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Ni_dep   frozen            1            0            1           
   mdl.Redshift frozen            0       -0.999           10           

ATTRIBUTES

The attributes for this object are:

Attribute Definition
nH The equivalent hydrogen column (in units of 10^22 atoms/cm^2).
He, C, N, O, Ne, Na, Mg, Al, Si, S, Cl, Ar, Ca, Cr, Fe, Co, Ni The abundance of the element in solar units.
H2 The equivalent molecular hydrogen column (in units of 10^22 atoms/cm^2).
rho The grain density, in g/cm^3.
amin The minimum grain size, in micro-meters.
amax The maximum grain size, in micro-meters.
PL The power-law index of grain sizes.
H_dep, He_dep, C_dep, N_dep, O_dep, Ne_dep, Na_dep, Mg_dep, Al_dep, Si_dep, S_dep, Cl_dep, Ar_dep, Ca_dep, Cr_dep, Fe_dep, Co_dep, Ni_dep The grain depletion fraction of the element.
Redshift The redshift of the absorber.

Notes

The `set_xsabund` function changes the relative abundances of the elements, in particular the "wilm" setting.

References

[1]

XSPEC version

CIAO 4.18 comes with support for version 12.14.0k of the XSPEC models. This can be checked with the following:

% python -c 'from sherpa.astro import xspec;
print(xspec.get_xsversion())'
12.14.0k

Bugs

See the bugs pages on the Sherpa website for an up-to-date listing of known bugs.

See Also

models
xstbabs, xstbfeo, xstbgas, xstbgrain, xstbpcf, xstbrel, xsztbabs