iSLAT: the Interactive Spectral-line Analysis Tool for JWST and Beyond

• Published in: The Astronomical journal Vol. 168; no. 3; pp. 99 - 107
• Main Authors: Jellison, Evan G., Banzatti, Andrea, Johnson, Matthew B., Bruderer, Simon
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Madison The American Astronomical Society 01.09.2024; IOP Publishing
• Subjects: Astronomical instruments; Astronomy software; Centroids; Circumstellar disks; Emission analysis; Emission lines; Emission spectra; Emissions; Infrared analysis; Infrared instruments; Infrared spectra; Infrared spectroscopy; Infrared telescopes; James Webb Space Telescope; Line broadening; Line spectra; Molecular spectra; Molecular spectroscopy; Parameter identification; Planet formation; Protoplanetary disks; Resolution; Space telescopes; Spectral emissivity; Spectral emittance; Spectroscopy
• ISSN: 0004-6256; 1538-3881
• DOI: 10.3847/1538-3881/ad6142

Abstract We present the Interactive Spectral-Line Analysis Tool (iSLAT), a python-based graphical tool that allows users to interactively explore, inspect, and fit line emission observed in molecular spectra. iSLAT adopts a simple slab model in LTE that simulates emission spectra with a small set of parameters (temperature, emitting area, column density, and line broadening) that users can adjust in real time for multiple molecules or multiple thermal components of a same molecule. A central feature of iSLAT is the possibility to interactively inspect individual lines or line clusters to visualize their properties at high resolution and identify them in the population diagram. iSLAT provides a number of additional features, including the option to identify lines that are not blended at the instrumental resolution, the possibility to save custom line lists selected by the user, and to fit and measure their properties (line flux, width, and centroid) for later analysis. In this paper we launch the tool and demonstrate it on infrared spectra from the James Webb Space Telescope and ground-based instruments that provide higher resolving power. We also share curated line lists that are useful for the analysis of the forest of water emission lines observed from protoplanetary disks. iSLAT is shared with the community on GitHub.