SESAME Format Tables


Group T-1 (formerly T-4) at Los Alamos National Laboratory has been distributing opacities for more that 30 years. There have been two general formats for this distribution. The first was the full data base, including all of the frequency dependent data and the second was a very condensed ASCII format called SESAME. The SESAME opacity tables are compatible with the equation of state SESAME tables distributed by group T-1 here at the laboratory. This Web Page is set up to provide both types of format, as well as adding the multigroup format, which has not been widely available in the past.

In order to use the SESAME tables, users need to get the necessary codes from T-1 when they get the EOS library. This description is not intended to be a detailed explanation of the SESAME format, rather it lists for the experienced SESAME user some of the differences between the SESAME tables obtained from this Web Page and the normal SESAME library.

1. These tables can cover any selected temperature-density range (using the temperature list from the Web Page) instead of the standard grid.

2. The normal SESAME tables use a theoretical model to extrapolate the table quantities (Rosseland and Planck opacities, etc) to fill in the grid points where the opacities could not be calculated (low temperature -high density points). These tables take the value at the highest calculated density for each temperature and use that value for all higher densities. On plots, this procedure makes all of the curves run together at the lower temperatures if you have chosen densities where the opacities can not be calculated.

3. Most SESAME library tables contain five 50X tables (Temperature- Density boundary (501), Rosseland opacity (502), Electron Conductive opacity (503), Mean Ion charge (504) and Planck opacity (505)). Tables from this Web Page do not have a 503 table. If there is sufficient demand for this table, we will try to include it.

4. Single element tables will be given the material ID number shown on the Web Page in the File of currently available materials. Mixtures will be assigned numbers starting at 19000 and normally increased in increments of 1. If the Web Page is interupted (such as hitting the STOP button on the browser), the increment may be advanced and the mixture numbers would not be consecutive. Users can of course change these ID numbers after they download the tables.