weak rates that exist in reaclib do not respect user custom weak rate tables?

[carlnotsagan]

Describe the bug
When using a custom reaction table for the r_co59_wk_fe59 and / or r_fe59_wk-minus_co59 via a weak_rate_list.txt file, MESA still uses (or at least outputs to cache) the default _1.bin rate for each reaction.

My suspicion is that since the custom_rates test suite modifies the weak rates r_n14_wk_c14 and r_c14_wk-minus_n14, which are not in REACLIB, they are not overwritten. But, for weak rates which exist in REACLIB, somewhere the user rate is overwritten?

Sharing this here incase it is not a bug and someone with better knowledge of the rates module can help me track down the issue.

My best guess is that potentially this commit needs to be modified to respect already defined weak custom rates.

To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behavior:

1. Run a model with current release.
2. Provide a custom rate table rate_list.txt and weak_rate_list.txt.
3. If the custom weak rate exists in REACLIB, it will be ignored for the default.

Expected behavior
The users custom rate should be used and not overwritten. Either the forward rate, reverse from detailed balance, or both.

[carlnotsagan]

After looking at this more I think it might be a few things going on:

1. theres a silent fail when parse_weak_rate_name gets an id it doesnt recognize (i have passed a rate id that doesnt exist and it still runs)
2. when a correct id is passed, the custom rate is successfully created (silently, and i believe written to weakreactions.bin?).

• it appears its created and used (as suggested when outputting the raw rates to a profile), but the default wk rate still lives in the rates_cache dir, making it unclear to the user which is used in the evolution.

[VincentVanlaer]

So, just to be sure, the rates are being applied, and it is more a matter of communicating to the user whether or not the id is correct?

[carlnotsagan]

Took me a sec to confirm. Yes, they are being applied but the following is also true:

• the check when reading the weak rate list only checks if the nuclides exist, not that the rate exists and/or the rate is in the current reaction network.
• at present theres no show_rates (unless im unaware of one) that would allow the user to verify the custom weak rate other than outputting the raw rate for it for a profile
• for some weak rates that are first initialized before the custom rate is generated and used, the non-used old weak rate cache still exists in rate cache making it unclear to the user which is being used.

This is a bit of an edge case and not a bug, but more of an opportunity for someone (maybe me!) to add some more fail safes for the custom weak rates logic and/or add some more info in the starjob defaults on how it works.

[Debraheem]

Ahh yes, I have encountered this before as well. The communication of which and what rates are being used to the user and their associated .bin files when they are compiled into binaries can be confusing. The interface with user could certainly be improved! Happy to assist if you take a stab.

[fxt44]

go carl!