astropy / astropy/specutils

How does Spectrum1D report rest-frame Fnu and flambda?

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Description

How does specutils.Spectrum1D() return the rest-frame fnu or flambda? While I see the redshift attribute of Spectrum1D, I can't find where the documentation explains how to apply it to the flux, to correct for (1+z) -- the effect commonly known as "bandwidth compression" for flux density (fnu). In other words, dividing by (1+z) to go from observed fnu to rest fnu, and multiplying by (1+z) to go from observed f_lambda to rest f_lambda. It's so easy to lose track of a 1+z, and it really matters. A use case would be to plot observed wave, observed fnu, and then plot rest wave, rest_fnu, where the rest_fnu should be lower by (1+z).

Here's how I do the conversions in my own code:
https://github.com/janerigby/jrr/blob/master/spec.py look at convert2restframe_df()

Contributor guide

Open the contributing guide

Research direction

Start by reviewing specutils.Spectrum1D's redshift attribute and the linked spec.py convert2restframe_df() example. Document how observed fnu and flambda are converted to rest-frame values, including the (1+z) factors, and show the observed-versus-rest plotting use case. Done means the behavior and conversions are clear in the project documentation.

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Assessment

Tech stack
python
Domain
documentation
Issue type
Documentation
Difficulty
3/5
Estimated time
1-2 days
Activity status
Stale
Clarity
Mostly clear
Newbie friendliness
35/100

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