INTRODUCTION

It was designed for examining sets of many eigenvectors (in my case real functions of 1 or 2 spatial dimensions, sampled on regular grids), each with an associated eigenvalue (the eigenvalues together form a spectrum), emerging from my own research needs in 2d quantum mechanics. It is currently used by many members of the Heller Group. It can handle 3 home-grown file formats which are very easy to write:

        1) multiple 1d arrays (ASCII file)
        2) multiple 2d arrays (ASCII file)
        3) multiple 2d arrays (4-byte floating-point binary file)

It allows perusal of individual eigenvectors or display of all at once.

Brief description of features...

For 2d data (ie plots of z(x,y)), individual eigenvectors can be shown as a surface plot point grid and spun in 3d in a responsive inertial fashion, or as 2d colour-scale "bit-images" (density plots).  The z-scale (contrast) is adjustable, and there are basic remapping options for z=log(abs(data)), z=data^2, etc. Also a multiple-image plot is possible. The size of images is adjustable in units of integer number of pixels per data-point.

In all cases, the eigenvalue spectrum appears as green bars on a vertical scale, on the right hand side. Currently this has no axes. The view of this spectrum is also adjustable, using Shift + mouse buttons.

The Right button gives an embryonic menu, allowing for instance help to be dumped to the calling window. Pressing the I key gives a dump of the eigenvalues to the calling window (this could be extended to other properties).

I believe this interactivity is essential for quick grasp of data. (In this sense I have been influenced by SciAn, an excellent but unsupported 3d OpenGL displayer/animator). I hope some of you can take the small amount of time to write your data in the necessary format, and reap the rewards of seeing your data as adjustable-contrast 2d images (without resorting to Mathematica or Matlab), or spinning it around in 3d!

FILE FORMATS

1) Multiple 1d arrays (ASCII file):

d n_samples N x_0 dx
2 param_1 param_2

1 E_1
vector_1_data

2 E_2
vector_2_data
.
.
.
N E_N
vector_N_data

<file ends>

Where...

d = # of dimensions = 1 in this case.
n_samples = how many data samples along the x direction.
N = # eigenvalue/eigenvector pairs, ie the # of states.
x_0 = initial x value (for first data point)
dx = x-spacing between data points. Ie, point i has x_i = x_0 + (i-1)*dx

2 param_1 param_2 = the digit 2 followed by 2 parameters which appear at
        lower left of screen. Currently only 2 parameters are allowed.
        This could easily be changed.

k E_k = state # (k) followed by corresponding k_th eigenvalue. If the
        integer k does not match up with the expected, VIEWER will tell you.

vector_k_data = list of data (y_i) values for k_th 1d array, separated
        by spaces. i goes from 1 to n_samples.

See example_data/many1d.sta

2) Multiple 2d arrays (ASCII file):

d n_x_samples n_y_samples N

Where...

d = 2
n_x_samples n_y_samples = # of data points in each direction
N = the # of states, as before

The vector_k_data list now loops over both x and y, with x being the
"fast" direction. In other words, if the data-points are labelled by
integers going from i = 1 to n_x_samples (x direction), and j = 1 to
n_y_samples (y direction), then the data-point (i,j) is to be found in
the ( (j-1)*n_x_samples + i )_th number in the vector_k_data list.

See example_data/single2d.sta which happens to be a single data set
only (ie N = 1).

3) Multiple 2d arrays (binary file):

<file begins>

'b' '*' '*' '*'
N n_x_samples n_y_samples

E_1 ... E_N

vector_data_list

<file ends>

Where...

The opening 4-character sequence must begin with 'b', and the
following 3 are arbitrary. The 'b' identifies the file as a type 3)
data-set (binary multiple 2d).

N n_x_samples n_y_samples = 4-byte integers giving same quantities as in 2)

E_1 ... E_N = N double-precision (8 byte) eigenvalues

vector_data_list = single-precision (4 byte) floats in binary format.
The difference from 2) is that a sweep over the state # k is
now the "fastest" loop, followed by the "fast" x loop then the "slow"
y loop. This is a triple nested loop. In other words, the data point
(i,j) of state k is found in the vector_data_list at position
((j-1)*n_x_samples + i-1)*N + k. See code for loadstates() if confused.

There are no "space" characters in the file.

There are two choices for the binary format commonly used (IEEE 754):
big- and little- endian, referring to the byte ordering of 4-byte or
8-byte numbers (Most Significant Byte first or Least Significant Byte
first). SGI (mips-IRIX) uses the opposite system to DEC
(alpha-OSF1) and alpha-Linux. Therefore, VIEWER can read both: if reading fails then append an 'e' argument after the filename and endian flipping will be done.

See example_data/many2d_binary.sta which is a type 3) multiple data-set stored using SGI endian ordering. For those of you in the field of quantum chaos, it happens to be the same stadium eigenstates displayed in Rick Heller's article on p.627-8 of Les Houches, 1989, however generated in a few seconds with the method of Vergini & Saraceno.

OTHER NOTES

• PostScript (PS/EPS) multiple 2d image output with labels is now added (2/27/04). See my poster page for details.
• The limit on total number of data-points is #defined as 1e7 - this can be enlarged (via recompilation) to whatever your computer can handle.

DOWNLOAD and COMPILATION

The source directory contains a Makefile for compilation with alpha Linux systems. GLUT, OpenGL (or Mesa), gcc and the math library must be already installed (other platform users may need to edit the library names in the Makefile). The program has been tested only on alpha linux and on IRIX systems (IRIX requires the change: GLUTLIBS = -lglut -lGLU -lGL -lXmu -lXext -lX11). It is very simple, consisting of 3 source files and 3 header files:

viewer.c     useful.c    nrutils.c
constants.h  useful.h    nrutils.h

On alpha linux, 4 RPMs are sufficient to provide GLUT and Mesa. I used:

Mesa-3.0-4

Mesa-devel-3.0-4

Mesa-glut-3.0-4

Mesa-glut-devel-3.0-4

WISH LIST