SALSA: A Python Package for Constructing Synthetic Quasar Absorption Line Catalogs from Astrophysical Hydrodynamic Simulations

SALSA: Synthetic Absorption Line Surveyor Application is a Python tool that constructs synthetic absorber catalogs from hydrodynamic galaxy simulations. SALSA heavily utilizes yt to access simulation data and Trident to create light rays/sight lines and generate synthetic spectra.

Observational studies generate large absorber catalogs by studying the absorption line spectra of distant quasars, as their light passes through intervening galaxies. Salsa can generate similar catalogs from cosmological and galactic simulations, allowing research to study these simulations from an observers perspective. This can give new insights into the data as well as help facilitate comparisons and collaboration between simulations and observations.

SALSA allows us to dip into galactic simulations and start to chip away at the many unknowns of the universe