CHIANTI consists of a critically evaluated set of atomic data, that together with a set of Interactive Data Language (IDL) programs can provide diagnostic information from observed emission line spectra of astrophysical plasmas, in terms for example of temperature, density and element abundances.
The database contains the most uptodate atomic data, in the form of ASCII files (that include energy levels, oscillator strengths and A values, electron collisional excitation rates, etc). The available atomic data are assessed before they are entered into the database. The ASCII files contain complete references to the sources of the data, which in some cases have been supplemented by our own calculations. For more details, please read the documentation that you can find either within the CHIANTI package or in the CHIANTI WWW home pages (see below).
A number of Interactive Data Language (IDL) procedures are also provided. These include routines to read the various CHIANTI database files, calculate levels populations, etc. Some of the features include:
- Calculate line intensities and synthetic spectra. - Density diagnostics. - Temperature diagnostics. - DEM(T) inversion. - Continuum calculations. - Radiative losses.
CHIANTI is a collaborative project involving the Naval Research Laboratory (Washington DC, USA), the Arcetri Observatory (Firenze, Italy), and the Cambridge University (United Kingdom).
The first version (1.01) of the CHIANTI database, originally developed by Dere, Landi, Mason, Monsignori Fossi and Young, was released in 1996 and is described in Dere et al. (1997).
The second version was released in 1999 (Landi et al., 1999). It mainly included continuum emission and data for the minor ions (Na, P, Cl, K, Ti, Cr, Mn, Co, and Zn).
The third version of the CHIANTI database was released in 2000 (Dere et al., 2001). In this version the database has been extended to wavelengths shorter than 50 Å by including atomic data for the hydrogen and helium isoelectronic sequences, inner-shell transitions and satellite lines and several other ions. In addition, some of the ions already present in the database have been updated and extended with new atomic data from published calculations. The inclusion of the satellites has required a significant modification to the software.
The latest information on the CHIANTI database and associated IDL
procedures can be found in one of the CHIANTI WWW homepages:
or within SolarSoft in the
The CHIANTI database and relative software under SolarSoft
are regularly updated.
$SSW/packages/chianti/doc/
subdirectory. This directory contains documents that describe
in detail the CHIANTI package structure and the software, with
examples.
`CHIANTI - an atomic database
for emission lines. I:
Wavelengths greater than 50Å'.
Dere K.P., Landi E., Mason H.E., Monsignori-Fossi B.C., and Young
P.R. (1997). Astronomy & Astrophysics Supplement Series 125, 149-173.
`CHIANTI - an atomic database for
Emission Lines. III: Continuum radiation and extension of the
ion database'.
E. Landi, M. Landini, K.P. Dere, P.R. Young, H.E. Mason (1999).
Astronomy & Astrophysics Supplement Series 135, 339.
`CHIANTI - an atomic database for emission lines. IV - Extension to X-ray Wavelengths'
K. P. Dere, E. Landi, P.R. Young, and G. Del Zanna (2001).
The Astrophysical Journal Supplement Series, in press.
Last updated on 24 January 2001 by G. Del Zanna, CHIANTI consortium.