Package Contents

VICE: Versatile Integrator for Chemical Evolution

  • 77 elements on the periodic table

  • Fast integration of one-zone models

  • Enrichment from single stellar populations

  • Highly flexible nucleosynthetic yield calculations

  • User-defined mathematical forms describing:

    • Nucleosynthetic yields in simulations

    • Mixing processes in multi-zone models

    • Infall and star formation histories

    • The stellar initial mass function

    • The star formation law

    • Element-by-element infall metallicities

    • Type Ia supernova delay-time distributions

How to Access the Documentation:

Documentation is available in several forms:

  1. Online: http://vice-astro.readthedocs.io

  2. In PDF format, available for download at the same address

  3. In the docstrings embedded within the software

Running vice --docs from the terminal will open the online documentation in the default web browser.

First time users should go through VICE’s QuickStartTutorial jupyter notebook, available under examples/ in the git repository. This can be launched from the command line by running vice --tutorial. Other example scripts can be found there as well.

Contents

singlezoneobject

Simulate a single-zone galactic chemical evolution model

multizoneobject

Simulate a multi-zone galactic chemical evolution model

milkywayobject

A multizone object optimized for modeling the Milky Way.

outputobject

Read and store output from singlezone simulations.

multioutputobject

Read and store output from multizone simulations.

migration<module>

Utilities for mixing prescriptions in multizone simulations.

single_stellar_population<function>

Simulate enrichment from a single conatal star cluster

cumulative_return_fraction<function>

Calculate the cumulative return fraction of a star cluster of known age

main_sequence_mass_fraction<function>

Calculate the main sequence mass fraction of a star cluster of known age

imf<module>

Built-in funcitonal forms of popular stellar initial mass functions.

mlrobject

Built-in popular function forms of the stellar mass-lifetime relationship. Also stores which form to adopt in chemical evolution models.

yields<module>

Calculate, access, and declare nucleosynthetic yield settings for use in simulations.

elements<module>

Access, and declare nucleosynthetic yield settings for use in simulations. Access other relevant information for each element such as the solar abundance or atomic number.

dataframeobject

A dictionary-like object with case-insensitive lookup and data storage.

history<function>

Reads in time-evolution of interstellar medium from singlezone simulation.

mdf<function>

Reads in stellar metallicity distribution from singlezone simulation.

stars<function>

Read in stellar population abundances from a multizone simulation output.

toolkit<module>

Generally useful utilities.

Built-In Dataframes

  • atomic_number : The atomic number of each element

  • primordial : The abundance of each element following big bang nucleosynthesis.

  • solar_z : The abundance of each element in the sun.

  • sources : The primary astrophysical production channels of each element.

  • stable_isotopes : Lists of each elements’ stable isotopes.

Utilities

  • VisibleDeprecationWarning : A DeprecationWarning that is visible by default.

  • VisibleRuntimeWarning : A RuntimeWarning that is visible by default.

  • ScienceWarning : A Warning concerning scientific accuracy and precision.

  • test : Runs VICE’s unit tests.

  • version : VICE’s version breakdown.

  • __version__ : The version string.