Add production limits for list of telescopes

[tobiaskleiner]

This PR adds the option to pass a list of telescopes to compute the production limits.

Fixes reading of NSB values from the merged tables.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR extends CORSIKA production limit derivation to support passing an inline list of telescope IDs, and improves robustness when reading NSB and other numeric values from merged/combined event data tables.

Changes:

• Add support in derive_corsika_limits.generate_corsika_limits_grid() for array_element_list as an alternative telescope configuration input.
• Fix/robustify parsing of NSB and other numeric metadata/FILE_INFO columns when values are string/byte-string encoded.
• Update histogram filling to accumulate across indexed datasets in merged event files, with accompanying unit tests.

Reviewed changes

Copilot reviewed 10 out of 10 changed files in this pull request and generated 3 comments.

Show a summary per file

File	Description
src/simtools/sim_events/writer.py	Cast nsb_integrated_flux metadata to float with fallback to filename parsing.
src/simtools/sim_events/reader.py	Add numeric conversion helper and use it to handle byte/string encoded numeric FILE_INFO columns.
src/simtools/sim_events/histograms.py	Preserve/accumulate histogram counts across multiple indexed datasets.
src/simtools/production_configuration/derive_corsika_limits.py	Accept array_element_list as a telescope configuration source; raise on missing configuration.
src/simtools/applications/production_derive_corsika_limits.py	Document array_element_list usage in CLI docstring/examples.
tests/unit_tests/sim_events/test_writer.py	Add tests for NSB metadata string casting and fallback behavior.
tests/unit_tests/sim_events/test_reader.py	Add tests for decoding/convert helper and handling invalid numeric data.
tests/unit_tests/sim_events/test_histograms.py	Add test ensuring histogram counts accumulate across multiple datasets.
tests/unit_tests/production_configuration/test_derive_corsika_limits.py	Add tests for array_element_list input and missing telescope configuration error.
docs/changes/2128.feature.md	Changelog entry for inline telescope list support.

[GernotMaier]

Thanks for this.

Please check if commandline_parser:_add_model_option_layout() does not give you already the required command line option.

[ctao-sonarqube]

Quality Gate passed

Issues
0 New issues
0 Fixed issues
0 Accepted issues

Measures
0 Security Hotspots
100.0% Coverage on New Code
0.0% Duplication on New Code

See analysis details on SonarQube

[tobiaskleiner]

Thanks for this.

Please check if commandline_parser:_add_model_option_layout() does not give you already the required command line option.

Right and this is exactly what is being used here, but you are right that it should not appear as arguement in the dosctring, as it is implicit. Let me know if this is fine now.

[GernotMaier]

All good now, thanks!

[tobiaskleiner]

Thanks @GernotMaier!