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We no longer require registration to download AtomDB. However we would be grateful if you would leave your contact details with us so we can notify you of future releases, updates, or corrections. It is also useful for our statistics to see how widely used AtomDB is: we will not share your details with anyone. You can register here.


AtomDB 3.0.9 201 temperature Release (July 14th 2020)

Due to interpolation issues becoming apparent in the 51 temperature AtomDB files, we have changed the standard binning from 51 temeprature between 104 and 109K to 201 temperatures. This has been the standard implementation in XSPEC since version 12.11.0k. We had initially intended to change the filename of the new data, but this causes issues with XSPEC therefore the 201 temperature files are the new version 3.0.9, and the 51 temperature files are being renamed to apec_3.0.9_51.

To use the equilibrium data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

XSPEC12> xset APECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.9

atomdb_v3.0.9.tar.bz2 - equilibrium line and continuum files (95MB) md5sum

The non-equilibrium data is unaffected and can be downloaded as before

If you are using PyAtomDB, you can update to the latest files by issuing the command:

python> pyatomdb.util.switch_version('3.0.9', force=True)

Note this requires PyAtomDB v0.10.3 or later


AtomDB 3.0.9 Release (September 04th 2017)

Containts one bugfix and a few minor updates from AtomDB 3.0.8

The new data can be obtained either using pyatomdb (pyatomdb.util.switch_version('3.0.9')) or, if you only want to use the files in XSPEC, by downloading the tarballs below and setting your APECROOT and NEIAPECROOT appropriately. If using pyatomdb, we recommend updating to the most recent version. Note that this data is included in HEASOFT 6.25 by default, so unless you have set the ATOMDB_VERSION in your Xspec.init file it should be automatically loaded. You can check the version being loaded by XSPEC by issuing the "chatter 25" command before loading the model, i.e.

XSPEC12> chatter 25

XSPEC12> model apec or XSPEC12> model nei

and the files being accessed will be listed. (Also, any problems loading the files will be highlighted).

To use the NEI emissivity data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

XSPEC12> xset NEIAPECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.9

atomdb_v3.0.9_nei.tar.bz2 - non-equilibrium line and continuum files (153MB) md5sum

In addition, you will require the latest ionization balance calculation, which was updated in AtomDB 3.0.7. These are the same as those in 3.0.4, but also include files for Co, Cu and Zn which had been omitted in 3.0.4. To use this, you will require three things:

To use the equilibrium data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

XSPEC12> xset APECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.9_51

atomdb_v3.0.9_51.tar.bz2 - equilibrium line and continuum files (37MB) *NOTE* These files superceded by the 201 temperature version above, kept here just for anyone interested in comparison work. md5sum

atomdb_v3.0.9_lineid.tar.bz2 - shrunken AtomDB files allowing line identification, e.g. for use with ISIS (45MB) md5sum
If you have installed pyatomdb, we recommend you untar these in a different folder.


AtomDB 3.0.8 Release (February 12th 2017)

Update (February 25th 2017)

The NEI files were corrupted during release, leading to hydrogen being omitted. Please redownload the NEI tarballs. If you have the correct files, then
md5sum $ATOMDB/apec_v3.0.8_nei_comp.fits = 2c0e29ea34acf124900ea2d8c2e4f874

If you are using pyatomdb, this script will get the fixed datafiles for you

Our thanks to Shinya Nakashima for pointing this out.

End Update

Several data updates were made to AtomDB 3.0.7, including:
- New excitation rates for He-like iron and all H-like ions
- Correction of valance shell transition wavelengths for Li-like ions to match NIST
- Fixing an overly strong line in Ni XVII

The new data can be obtained either using pyatomdb (pyatomdb.util.switch_version('3.0.8')) or, if you only want to use the files in XSPEC, by downloading the tarballs below and setting your APECROOT and NEIAPECROOT appropriately. If using pyatomdb, we recommend updating your version.

To use the NEI emissivity data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset NEIAPECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.8_nei

atomdb_v3.0.8_nei.tar.bz2 - non-equilibrium line and continuum files (154MB) md5sum

In addition, you will require the latest ionization balance calculation, which was updated in AtomDB 3.0.7. These are the same as those in 3.0.4, but also include files for Co, Cu and Zn which had been omitted in 3.0.4. To use this, you will require three things:

To use the equilibrium data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset APECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.8

atomdb_v3.0.8.tar.bz2 - equilibrium line and continuum files (36MB) md5sum

atomdb_v3.0.8_lineid.tar.bz2 - shrunken AtomDB files allowing line identification, e.g. for use with ISIS (45MB) md5sum
If you have installed pyatomdb, we recommend you untar these in a different folder.


AtomDB 3.0.7 Release (December 8th 2016)

Another bug was found in AtomDB 3.0.6, which had caused some very weak transitions to have negative wavelength. This then interacted with XSPEC in a curious way to turn off entire ions are certain temperatures (notably O VII at ~0.1keV). This has been fixed in 3.0.7.

The new data can be obtained either using pyatomdb (pyatomdb.util.switch_version('3.0.7')) or, if you only want to use the files in XSPEC, by downloading the tarballs below and setting your APECROOT and NEIAPECROOT appropriately. If using pyatomdb, we recommend updating your version.

To use the NEI emissivity data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset NEIAPECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.7_nei

atomdb_v3.0.7_nei.tar.bz2 - non-equilibrium line and continuum files (150MB) md5sum

In addition, you will require the latest ionization balance calculation, which was updated in AtomDB 3.0.7. These are the same as those in 3.0.4, but also include files for Co, Cu and Zn which had been omitted in 3.0.4. To use this, you will require three things:

To use the equilibrium data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset APECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.7

atomdb_v3.0.7.tar.bz2 - equilibrium line and continuum files (36MB) md5sum

atomdb_v3.0.7_isis.tar.bz2 - additional atomic data files for use with ISIS (not needed for any other purpose) (20MB) md5sum


AtomDB 3.0.6 Release (November 16th 2016)

A bug was found in AtomDB 3.0.5 where there was double counting of recombination into some excited levels, affecting spectra of He-like ions in particular. This has been fixed in 3.0.6.

The new data can be obtained either using pyatomdb (pyatomdb.util.switch_version('3.0.6')) or, if you only want to use the files in XSPEC, by downloading the tarballs below and setting your APECROOT and NEIAPECROOT appropriately. If using pyatomdb, we recommend updating your version.

To use the NEI emissivity data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset NEIAPECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.6_nei

atomdb_v3.0.6_nei.tar.bz2 - non-equilibrium line and continuum files (150MB) md5sum

In addition, you will require the latest ionization balance calculation, which was updated in AtomDB 3.0.4. To use this, you will require three things:

To use the equilibrium data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset APECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.6

atomdb_v3.0.6.tar.bz2 - equilibrium line and continuum files (36MB) md5sum

atomdb_v3.0.6_isis.tar.bz2 - additional atomic data files for use with ISIS (not needed for any other purpose) (20MB) md5sum


AtomDB 3.0.5 Release (November 1st 2016)

There were some packaging issues with version 3.0.4 which led to incorrect fluxes for low Z ions, as well as omitting several rare elements from the database (Li, Be, B, Cr). This update fixes these errors. While the majority of the data is very similar to 3.0.4, we have incremented the version number to avoid confusion..

The new data can be obtained either using pyatomdb (pyatomdb.util.switch_version('3.0.5')) or, if you only want to use the files in XSPEC, by downloading the tarballs below and setting your APECROOT and NEIAPECROOT appropriately. If using pyatomdb, we recommend updating your version.

To use the NEI emissivity data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset NEIAPECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.5_nei

atomdb_v3.0.5_nei.tar.bz2 - non-equilibrium line and continuum files (150MB) md5sum

In addition, you will require the latest ionization balance calculation, which was updated in AtomDB 3.0.4. To use this, you will require three things:

To use the equilibrium data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset APECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.5

atomdb_v3.0.5.tar.bz2 - equilibrium line and continuum files (36MB) md5sum

atomdb_v3.0.5_isis.tar.bz2 - additional atomic data files for use with ISIS (not needed for any other purpose) (20MB) md5sum


AtomDB 3.0.4 Release (October 7th 2016)

An error occured during packaging of these files, corrupting the data within. This is being fixed and corrected files will be posted soon

This update contains updates to many wavelengths of lines to NIST values where appropriate, including all the Be, Li, He and H like ions. In addition, a change has been made to the ionization balance for NEI calculations. This make no major difference to equilibrium calculations.

The new data can be obtained either using pyatomdb (pyatomdb.util.switch_version('3.0.4')) or, if you only want to use the files in XSPEC, by downloading the tarballs below and setting your APECROOT and NEIAPECROOT appropriately. If using pyatomdb, we recommend updating your version.

To use the NEI data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset NEIAPECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.4_nei

xset NEIVERS 3.0.4

NOTE: it is not possible yet to use NEIVERS 3.0.4 with XSPEC. A patch is on the way once we work this out.

To use the equilibrium data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset APECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.4

atomdb_v3.0.4_nei.tar.bz2 - non-equilibrium line and continuum files (110MB) md5sum

atomdb_v3.0.4.tar.bz2 - equilibrium line and continuum files (25MB) md5sum

atomdb_v3.0.4_isis.tar.bz2 - additional atomic data files for use with ISIS (not needed for any other purpose) (19MB) md5sum


AtomDB 3.0.3 Release (May 20th 2016, updated July 18th 2016)

This is an update release, including some bugfixes. This includes a revision to the fluorescence yields for ions with 14 electrons or more, which were peviously too high.

The new data can be obtained either using pyatomdb (pyatomdb.util.switch_version('3.0.3')) or, if you only want to use the files in XSPEC, by downloading the tarballs below and setting your APECROOT and NEIAPECROOT appropriately

To use the NEI data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset NEIAPECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.3_nei

xset NEIVERS 3.0

To use the equilibrium data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset APECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.3

Bug update July 18th 2016 - Minor fix for interaction with XSPEC

The line data for the equilibrium models should have been sorted by the element, ion and then reverse wavelength before release, to take advantage of XSPEC speed improvements. This was not done, leading to spurious lines in the equilibrium models (APEC, BAPEC, and all "v" letters thereof) in XSPEC.

This has been fixed in the atomdb_v3.0.3.tar.bz2 tarball below. If your data has been fixed, the md5 checksum of the $ATOMDB/apec_v3.0.3_line.fits should be: c66905cb963f076b6ff18697b433ca77. If yours is the old version (md5sum: f034f0c8ca110fdd113adddb872e242d) you can either download the above tarball, or run the following command:

for i in {2..52}; do ftsort "path/to/file/apec_v3.0.3_line.fits[$i]" \!path/to/file/apec_v3.0.3_line.fits Element,Ion,-Lambda; done

Note that there have been no other changes to the files, this is simply reordering the existing lines.

atomdb_v3.0.3_nei.tar.bz2 - non-equilibrium line and continuum files (165MB) md5sum

atomdb_v3.0.3.tar.bz2 - equilibrium line and continuum files (35MB) md5sum

ISIS Users: the ISIS software requires access to the underlying atomic database. We normally distribute this as part of the release, however the files produced are very large (>10s of Gb). As a result, this tarball will provide the wavelengths and energy levels required by ISIS. untar them in the same directory as the rest of the AtomDB files from above. A description of the issue is given here (PDF).

atomdb_v3.0.3_isis.tar.bz2 - energy level and wavelength information md5sum


AtomDB 3.0.2 Release (June 19th 2015)

This is an update release, including some bugfixes and the inclusion of the Fe I-VII emission which was omitted in v3.0.1. Bugfixes include fixing many header keywords which were out of sync with previous releases.

Bugfix for NEI files in XSPEC 12.9 (August 20th 2015)

A bug has been discovered in the AtomDB 3.0.2 files. None of the data was wrong, but due to changes in XSPEC the lines in the files had to be listed in a specific order. This was done incorrectly, leading to spurious data in NEI models. To fix this, either (a) download the file again (they have been updated) or (b) run the following command on the nei_line file:

for i in {2..52}; do ftsort "path/to/file/apec_v3.0.2_nei_line.fits[$i]" \!path/to/file/apec_v3.0.2_nei_line.fits Element,Ion,-Lambda; done

A short writeup (apologies for the roughness of the draft) is available here. The files can be used in the XSPEC rnei model. To use the NEI data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset NEIAPECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.2_nei

xset NEIVERS 3.0

To use the equilibrium data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset APECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.2

apec_v3.0.2_nei.tar.bz2 - non-equilibrium line and continuum files (165MB) md5sum

Note that these files are large, and contain data for all elements up to Nickel. If you want a smaller subset of these files, please contact us.

apec_v3.0.2.tar.bz2 - equilibrium line and continuum files (29MB) md5sum

ISIS Users: the ISIS software requires access to the underlying atomic database. We normally distribute this as part of the release, however the files produced are very large (>10s of Gb). As a result, this tarball will provide the wavelengths and energy levels required by ISIS. untar them in the same directory as the rest of the AtomDB files from above. A description of the issue is given here (PDF).

atomdb_v3.0.2_isis.tar.bz2 - energy level and wavelength information md5sum


AtomDB 3.0.1 Release (March 13th 2015)

This is the release of both the equilibrium and non-equilibrium data for AtomDB v3.0.1. This includes inner shell excitation and ionization, along with fluorescence lines, from ions up to Nickel with less than 20 electrons. It includes bugfixes to the version 3.0.0 data, which affected Manganese and Boron emission.

A short writeup (apologies for the roughness of the draft) is available here. The files can be used in the XSPEC rnei model. To use the NEI data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset NEIAPECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.1_nei

xset NEIVERS 3.0

To use the equilibrium data, save and unpack the file below, and issue the following commands within XSPEC:

xset APECROOT /path/to/atomdb/apec_v3.0.1

apec_v3.0.1_nei.tar.bz2 - non-equilibrium line and continuum files (242MB) md5sum

Note that these files are large, and contain data for all elements up to Nickel. If you want a smaller subset of these files, please contact us.

apec_v3.0.1.tar.bz2 - equilibrium line and continuum files (16MB) md5sum


AtomDB 2.0.2 Release (February 23rd 2012)

This is a bugfix release updating data from v2.0.1. Please note that this does not include the Fe IX data below, which will be in version 2.1. If you wish to use the Fe IX data, please let us know and we will send it to you.

There are two different versions of the dataset, for compatibility reasons. As of version 12.7 (June 2011) XSPEC can handle the full new version of AtomDB. If you are still running an older version of XSPEC you will have to use the 14-element only XSPEC_LEGACY version of AtomDB.

Updated April 22nd 2013: The energy range for the AtomDB data was 0.01 to 50.0keV. Due to satellites such as NuStar requiring higher energy ranges, we have increased the energy range to be 0.01 to 100.0keV. The version 2.0.2 files here have been updated to reflect this, all other data remains identical. If you are looking at spectral ranges below 50keV (above 0.248Å) you will notice no difference at all.

All three of these files will unzip into a folder atomdb_v2.0.2. Some files are duplicated in all tarballs, for example the RELEASE_NOTES. The VERSION file is different for the XSPEC_LEGACY tarball, if you wish to use the XSPEC_LEGACY version make sure you untar it last.

atomdb_v2.0.2_runs.tar.gz - line, continuum and linelist files (15MB) md5sum

atomdb_v2.0.2_xspec_legacy_runs.tar.gz - line, continuum and linelist files, restricted to the 14 elements in v1.3.1 (13MB) md5sum

atomdb_v2.0.2.tar.gz - all the underlying atomic data (e.g. energy levels, collision strengths, etc) (79MB) md5sum


Libapecnei v0.2.0- the APEC non-equilibrium ionization library (August 7th 2015)

We have created a C library for calculating the ionization balance both in and out of equilibrium in a collisional plasma. Documentation is available (a first!). A python wrapper is included. An IDL wrapper routine is also included, although it is operating with limited success on Macs.

libapecnei-0.2.tar.gz - md5sum


Libreadapec v0.4.0- a library for generating spectra from the APEC emissivity files (August 6th 2015)

We have created a C library for generating spectra from the AtomDB emissivity files. Documentation is available. A python wrapper is included.

libreadapec-0.4.0.tar.gz - md5sum


Fe IX data (July 5th 2011)

If you are looking for the Fe IX data from this paper, please contact us for the link. The dataset will be included in AtomDB v2.1.0 when it is released, but you can see it now if you wish.


AtomDB 2.0.1 Release (June 22nd 2011)

A bug has been discovered in version 2.0.0 of AtomDB which has required the release of version 2.0.1. We apologize for the mistake, and strongly encourage all users to upgrade now.

There are two different versions of the dataset, for compatibility reasons. As of version 12.7 (June 2011) XSPEC can handle the full new version of AtomDB. If you are still running an older version of XSPEC you will have to use the 14-element only XSPEC_LEGACY version of AtomDB.

All three of these files will unzip into a folder atomdb_v2.0.1. Some files are duplicated in all tarballs, for example the RELEASE_NOTES. The VERSION file is different for the XSPEC_LEGACY tarball, if you wish to use the XSPEC_LEGACY version make sure you untar it last.

atomdb_v2.0.1_runs.tar.gz - line, continuum and linelist files (14MB) md5sum

atomdb_v2.0.1_xspec_legacy_runs.tar.gz - line, continuum and linelist files, restricted to the 14 elements in v1.3.1 (12MB) md5sum

atomdb_v2.0.1.tar.gz - all the underlying atomic data (e.g. energy levels, collision strengths, etc) (130MB) md5sum

In addition, following requests from users we have produced a run which extends the spectrum from an upper limit of E=50keV to E=100keV:

atomdb_v2.0.1_100kev_runs.tar.gz - line, continuum and linelist files (14MB) md5sum

atomdb_v2.0.1_100kev_xspec_legacy_runs.tar.gz - line, continuum and linelist files, restricted to the 14 elements in v1.3.1 (12MB) md5sum


AtomDB IDL Tools

In addition, we have created a number of utility routines that read and manipulate the ATOMDB, including IDL routines that can read the files and create model spectra. These can be downloaded here:

IDL Tools

Both Sherpa and XSPEC can now read spectral files created by APEC. The APEC output routines are a separate library, called fitsspec, available here for those potentially interested in creating their own spectral output files. Please contact us if you are interested in using these or need any help with them:

fitsspec

 


Previous Versions

AtomDB 2.0.0 (January 10th 2011)

The full release of version 2.0.0 is now available. The beta test has been completed without any major issues being found, but please let us know if you find any.

A paper is being prepared listing the changes in detail. An early draft of this, warts and all, is here. This will be updated as the paper progresses.

There are two different versions of the dataset, for compatibility reasons. XSPEC assumes the AtomDB data has 14 elements present. This can be easily changed within the XSPEC source, but we provide here a version with the same 14 elements as version 1.3.1 for comparison purposes.

All three of these files will unzip into a folder atomdb_v2.0.0. Some files are duplicated in all tarballs, for example the RELEASE_NOTES. The VERSION file is different for the XSPEC tarball, if you wish to use the XSPEC version make sure you untar it last.

atomdb_v2.0.0_runs.tar.gz - line, continuum and linelist files (15MB) md5sum

atomdb_v2.0.0_xspec_runs.tar.gz - line, continuum and linelist files, restricted to the 14 elements in v1.3.1 (12MB) md5sum

atomdb_v2.0.0.tar.gz - all the underlying atomic data (e.g. energy levels, collision strengths, etc) (76MB) md5sum


AtomDB 1.3.1 (July 3rd 2003)

atomdb131.tar.gz (21 MB; 135 MB uncompressed)


iPad Application Source Tree

The most recent source tree for the iPad application, designed to work with Apple's XCode development environment, is available as ipad_atomdb2.0.2.1.tar.gz (37 MB) md5sum

(Note: this includes the AtomDB database converted to a format optimized for mobile apps, but not the utility that converts the FITS files to this format. Please contact us if you need this software.)