Tophat Light Curve
The tophat light curve is defined mathematically as follows:
F(t) = F0 # if t > t_start and t < t_end
F(t) = 0 # otherwiseF_int = F0*(min(t_end, T_end) - max(t_start, T_start))/(T_end - T_start)
Sample probability contours for the tophat light curve
Each probability contour plot has three vertical lines or curves:
The leftmost vertical line in the above image represents the shortest observation input
The second line from the left is the shortest possible duration for a transient that will always be detected. This is the duration of longest gap in the observations.
The third line from the left is the longest duration for a transient before it is detected as constant. In the code this is the duration from the end of the first observation to end of the last observation starts. From the compute_lc.py file:
durmax = (obs['start'][-1] + obs['duration'][-1] - obs['start'][0])