MARXS: A modular software to ray-trace X-ray instrumention

Abstract

To obtain the best possible scientific result, astronomers must understand the properties of the available instrumentation well. This is important both when designing new instruments and when using existing instruments close to the limits of their specified capabilities or beyond. Ray-tracing is a technique for numerical simulations where the path of many light rays is followed through the system to understand how individual system components influence the observed properties, such as the shape of the point-spread-function (PSF). In instrument design, such simulations can be used to optimize the performance. For observations with existing instruments this helps to discern instrumental artifacts from a true signal. Here, we describe MARXS, a new python package designed to simulate X-ray instruments on satellites and sounding rockets. MARXS uses probability tracking of photons and has polarimetric capabilities.