Welcome to MARX’s documentation!

Current version of marx is 6.0.1

We now recommend to install marx together with CIAO as described in https://cxc.cfa.harvard.edu/ciao/download/ Of course, it is still possible to install marx from source as described in Downloading and Installing Marx.

Warning

Marx 6.0 improves error checking and user feedback in case of parameters errors as well as some bug fixes. It is not fully backward compatible with version 5.x. In particular,

• The Verbose parameter now requires an integer for finer control of the verbosity level.

• We removed obsolete tools that convert marx binary results into other formats. Going forward, the only supported tool for this purpose is marx2fits, followed by standard CIAO procedures to make images or extract spectra.

See Highlights for each version of marx for a full list of changes.

marx is a suite of programs created and maintained by the MIT/CXC/HETG group group and is designed to enable the user to simulate the on-orbit performance of the Chandra X-ray Observatory. marx provides a detailed ray-trace simulation of how Chandra responds to a variety of astrophysical sources and can generate standard FITS event files and images as output. It contains detailed models for Chandra’s High Resolution Mirror Assembly (HRMA), the HETG and LETG gratings, and all the focal plane detectors.

If you publish any work that made use of marx, please cite the paper Raytracing with MARX: x-ray observatory design, calibration, and support (Davis et al. 2012, SPIE 8443, 84431A).

• MARX in brief
  • Highlights for each version of marx
  • Downloading and Installing Marx
  • Current caveats for MARX
  • Running marx simulations
  • Reporting a problem or issue
• Examples of MARX in use
  • Simulating a user-defined CCD spectrum with ACIS
  • Simulating pile-up in an ACIS CCD spectrum
  • Simulating a thermal plasma with the HETGS grating
  • HETG simulation of an extended source
  • Simulating an LETG/ACIS-S observation
  • Simulating two overlapping sources
  • Including background in a marx simulation
  • Replicating a Chandra Observation / Using ChaRT or SAOTrace
• Detailed information on MARX
  • Simulating ACIS Pileup with marx
  • Simulating Aspect with marx
  • Using Response Matrices with marx
  • Using marx with SAOSAC
  • The spectrum and the spatial shape of the X-ray source
  • The marx Models for the Spacecraft
  • Simulating ground calibration data
• marx accuracy and testing
  • Point Spread Function (PSF)
  • Wings of the Chandra PSF
  • Summary
  • Flight grade distribution
  • Reproducing an input spectrum
  • Source shapes in MARX
  • Coordinates on the sky and the chip
• marx reference
  • MARX Frequently Asked Questions
  • The marx tool suite
  • Further marx parameters

Indices and tables

• Marx Parameters

• Index

• Search Page

Contributing to MARX

• Contributing code or documentation
• Making a release
  • Preparation
  • Source repro
  • Documentation repro
  • Get the word out