Spectral Data Cubes

Overview

Synthesizer can be used to make spectral data cubes, similar to the output of integral field unit instruments on telescopes.

For standard resolved-spectroscopy workflows, the main public interface is the high-level galaxy and component cube API used together with an IntegratedFieldUnit. In this workflow you:

  • generate spectra

  • construct an IntegratedFieldUnit

  • call galaxy.get_data_cube(...) or component.get_data_cube(...)

These methods will return a SpectralCube, which is the main data container for spectral data cubes in Synthesizer, and provides a consistent interface for working with cubes regardless of how they were generated.

The documentation below starts with the high-level particle and parametric galaxy workflows, then shows how the returned cube can be analysed or how a SpectralCube can be created directly when needed.