Faint Scattering Around Pulsars: Probing the Interstellar Medium on Solar System Size Scales

By D. Stinebring, Maura Mclaughlin, J. Cordes, K. Becker, J. Goodman, M. Kramer, J. L. Sheckard, C. Smith. 2000

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We have made high-resolution, high-sensitivity dynamic spectra of a sample of strong pulsars at 430 MHz with the Arecibo radio telescope. For four pulsars we find faint but sharply delineated features in the secondary spectra. These are examples of the previously observed "crisscross" or "multiple drift slope" phenomenon presumed to be due to multiple imaging of the pulsar by the interstellar medium (ISM). The unprecedented resolution and dynamic range of our observations allow a deeper level of analysis. Distances to the dominant scattering screen along the line of sight are determined and are shown to agree well with those inferred from other scintillation phenomena. Multiple imaging of the pulsar by the ISM is required. A compact central image surrounded by a faint scattering halo, roughly circularly symmetric, is consistent with the data. Scattering from filaments may also be consistent. The angular extent of the scattering material parallel to the direction of the pulsar velocity is ~5 mas, corresponding to a linear extent of ~2 AU. Further observations of these features should allow better discrimination between models and an identification of the scattering structures.

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/445f28f0c4af8bd4f7e25fde0c6d7f95825b438f

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Citations in the corpus

Measurement and correction of variations in interstellar dispersion in high-precision pulsar timing (2012, background): “Each pulsar is different and the ISM in the line of sight to each pulsar is different.”
Interstellar Turbulence II: Implications and Effects (2004, background): “Stinebring et al. (2001) and Hill et al. (2003) suggest that the arcs arise from interference between a central image and a faint scattering halo 20–30 times larger.”
Observing pulsars and fast transients with LOFAR (2011, background): “Scintillation studies have been revolutionised in the last few years by the discovery of faint halos of scattered light, extending outward to 10– 50 times the width of the core of the scattered image (Stinebring et al. 2001).”