Checklist for ALMA optimized imaging workflow:
- Determine when there is a new image dataset to review (how will this be done without the workflow manager - DAs to check for new products directories??)
- In the pilot, only channel widths and ranges can be set, so QA should be focused on those, along with general QA issues:
- Was the restoration of the calibration successful?
- Does the cube as made cover the region of interest requested by the PI (in the PPR). If large parts of the cube are blank, and/or a line is cut off at the edge of the cube the DA should consult with the PI by initiating a helpdesk ticket.
- Does the rms noise in a line-free channel match the theoretical estimate from the pipeline (to within 10% for bands 3-6, 15% for bands 7-8 and 20% for bands 9-10)?
- If outside these ranges, DA should perform a limited investigation:
- In cases of dynamic range limits, is the dynamic range >200 (50 for 7m data)? If so the product may be marked as a QA pass, but the DA should note in the QA report that the user should attempt self-calibration.
- If there is bad target data, the DA should flag the bad data and rerun the PPR
- If neither of these is the case, or the RMS is more than 20% below the prediction, the DA should consult a scientist, and the data may be marked as QA fail. In this case, products would not be ingested into the archive.
- If outside these ranges, DA should perform a limited investigation:
- Are there artifacts in the image suggesting that target flagging is needed? If so, flag the data and rerun the PPR.
- Is the continuum subtraction satisfactory? If not, should iteration be done with user, or should DA pick new continuum ranges for fitting?
- Is the synthesized beam highly elliptical? (Axial ratio > 3:1). If so, check that this is not due to heavy flagging of the target. If flagging is the cause (and not the observing HA and Dec), consult with a scientist as to whether or not the job should be QA fail.
- Is the synthesized beam sufficiently well-sampled (>3 pixels across the minor axis)? If not, DA should rerun with a smaller pixel scale (and image size in pixels adjusted to image the same area)
- Update the Google Spreadsheet with the QA state
- Write a short QA report suitable for transmission to the user and place somewhere it can be archived
- Need a template for this.
- Initiate archive ingest of image products.
- Email user via the helpdesk with the description of the QA on their products from step (4), and how to obtain them from the archive.