SAND: Automated VLBI imaging and analyzing pipeline

The Search And Non-Destroy (SAND) is a VLBI data reduction pipeline composed of a set of Python programs based on the AIPS interface provided by ObitTalk. It is designed for the massive data reduction of multi-epoch VLBI monitoring research. It can automatically investigate calibrated visibility data, search all the radio emissions above a given noise floor and do the model fitting either on the CLEANed image or directly on the uv data. It then digests the model-fitting results, intelligently identifies the multi-epoch jet component correspondence, and recognizes the linear or non-linear proper motion patterns. The outputs including CLEANed image catalogue with polarization maps, animation cube, proper motion fitting and core light curves. For uncalibrated data, a user can easily add inline modules to do the calibration and self-calibration in a batch for a specific array.