# IMAGINE: Interstellar MAGnetic field INference Engine¶

Welcome to the documentation of the IMAGINE software package, a publicly available Bayesian platform that allows using a variety of observational data sets to constrain models for the main ingredients of the interstellar medium of the Galaxy. IMAGINE calculates simulated data sets from the galaxy models and compares these to the observational data sets through a likelihood evaluation. It then samples this multi-dimensional likelihood space, which allows one to update prior knowledge, and thus to find the position with the best-fit model parameters and/or compute the model evidence (which enables rigorous comparison of competing models).

IMAGINE is developed and maintained by the IMAGINE consortium, a diverse group of researchers whose common interest revolves around developing an integrated understanding of the various components of the Galactic interstellar medium (with emphasis on the Galactic magnetic field and its interaction with cosmic rays). For more details on IMAGINE science case, please refer to the IMAGINE whitepaper.