Fermi Science Support Center

Fermi Science Tools Documentation

Welcome to the Fermi Science Tools! The Fermi Science Tools consists of the basic tools necessary to analyze Fermi data. And this is the place to begin to learn how to install and use these tools.

The documentation consists of four sections that will be useful to you at different stages of your mastery of the Fermi Science Tools:

  • Installing the science tools — instructions for installing the Fermi Science Tools
  • Analysis threads — step by step description of a standard Fermi Science Tools analysis
  • Cicerone — a detailed description of the analysis environment and its methodology. The Cicerone describes the full Fermi Science Tools.
  • Reference manual — a description of each tool and its input.

So how should you begin? This depends on your learning style. If you have a basic understanding of analyzing gamma-ray spectra, know something about the LAT and/or the GBM, and like to learn by example, then you might want to start by installing the science tools, and then work through the analysis thread.

On the other hand, if you are new to gamma-ray burst spectroscopy, or you would like a more systematic approach, then you might want to start by reading the Cicerone.

To learn about all of a tool's parameters or to remember how to use a tool with which you are already familiar, see the Reference manual.

The documentation is written to be comprehensive and self-contained, and we will update it based on the comments from the user community. If you have some questions, you should first check the FSSC Frequently-Asked-Questions; your question may already have been answered. Finally, you can request assistance through the FSSC helpdesk.