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

Stinebring, Daniel R.; McLaughlin, M. A.; Cordes, J. M.; Becker, K. M.; Goodman, Jeremy; Krämer, M.; Sheckard, J. L.; Smith, Corbett

doi:10.1086/319133

Cited by 200 publications

(204 citation statements)

References 17 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

199

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…The ellipse drawn over the 1400 MHz data has been scaled down by a factor of 53% and overplotted here. arc'' phenomenon (Stinebring et al 2001) and by extending the observations over a year so that we can observe the annual modulation caused by the Earth's velocity. Parabolic arcs have been observed in this system, and they provide a different view of the ISS.…”

Section: Anisotropy Analysis For J0737à3039mentioning

confidence: 92%

Probing the Eclipse of J0737−3039A with Scintillation

Coles

McLaughlin

Rickett

et al. 2005

ApJ

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We have examined the interstellar scintillations of the pulsars in the double-pulsar binary system. Near the time of the eclipse of pulsar A by the magnetosphere of B, the scintillations from both pulsars should be highly correlated because the radiation is passing through the same interstellar plasma. We report confirmation of this effect using 820 and 1400 MHz observations made with the Green Bank Telescope. The correlation allows us to constrain the projected relative position of the two pulsars at closest approach to be 4000 AE 2000 km, corresponding to an inclination that is only 0N29 AE 0N14 away from 90 . It also produces a two-dimensional map of the spatial correlation of the interstellar scintillation. This shows that the interstellar medium in the direction of the pulsars is significantly anisotropic. When this anisotropy is included in the orbital fitting, the transverse velocity of the center of mass is reduced from the previously published value of 141 AE 8:5 km s À1 to 66 AE 15 km s À1 .

show abstract

Section: Anisotropy Analysis For J0737à3039mentioning

confidence: 92%

Probing the Eclipse of J0737−3039A with Scintillation

Coles

McLaughlin

Rickett

et al. 2005

ApJ

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…They are caused by fluctuations in the density of free electrons in the ISM. 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). This, in turn, gives a wide-angle view of the scattering medium with milliarcsecond resolution, and the illuminated patch scans rapidly across the scattering material because of the high pulsar space velocity.…”

Section: Pulsars As Probes Of the Ism And The Galactic Magnetic Fieldmentioning

confidence: 99%

Observing pulsars and fast transients with LOFAR

Stappers

Hessels

Alexov

et al. 2011

A&A

215

160

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Low frequency radio waves, while challenging to observe, are a rich source of information about pulsars. The LOw Frequency ARray (LOFAR) is a new radio interferometer operating in the lowest 4 octaves of the ionospheric "radio window": 10-240 MHz, that will greatly facilitate observing pulsars at low radio frequencies. Through the huge collecting area, long baselines, and flexible digital hardware, it is expected that LOFAR will revolutionize radio astronomy at the lowest frequencies visible from Earth. LOFAR is a next-generation radio telescope and a pathfinder to the Square Kilometre Array (SKA), in that it incorporates advanced multi-beaming techniques between thousands of individual elements. We discuss the motivation for low-frequency pulsar observations in general and the potential of LOFAR in addressing these science goals. We present LOFAR as it is designed to perform high-time-resolution observations of pulsars and other fast transients, and outline the various relevant observing modes and data reduction pipelines that are already or will soon be implemented to facilitate these observations. A number of results obtained from commissioning observations are presented to demonstrate the exciting potential of the telescope. This paper outlines the case for low frequency pulsar observations and is also intended to serve as a reference for upcoming pulsar/fast transient science papers with LOFAR.

show abstract

“…We use a model of scintillation arcs developed in Stinebring et al (2001), Hill et al (2003), Cordes et al (2004), and Walker et al (2004) and summarized here. The essential features of the model are that the dominant scattering occurs in a thin screen along the line of sight and there is detectable scattering through angles large compared to the half-width of the pulsar image.…”

Section: Model For Scintillation Arcsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Deflection of Pulsar Signal Reveals Compact Structures in the Galaxy

Hill

Stinebring

Asplund

et al. 2005

ApJ

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We have detected a strong deflection of radio waves from the pulsar PSR B0834ϩ06 in scintillation observations. Interference between the undeflected pulsar image and deflected subimages allows single-dish interferometry of the interstellar medium with submilliarcsecond resolution. We infer the presence of scattering structure(s) similar to those that are thought to cause extreme scattering events in quasar flux monitoring programs: size ∼0.2 AU (an angular size of 0.1 mas) with an electron overdensity of տ10 3 compared to the warm ionized medium. The deflectors are nearly stationary in a scattering screen that is thin (Շ5% of the pulsar-observer distance in extent), is located 70% of the way from the Earth to the pulsar, and has been seen consistently in observations dating back 20 years. The pulsar scans the scattering screen at a velocity of 110 km s Ϫ1 with a detection radius of 15 mas. Pulsar observations such as these-particularly with a new generation of low-frequency radio telescopes with large collecting areas-hold promise for improving constraints on the poorly understood physical characteristics and space density of the deflecting structures. Such observations may also prove useful in correcting deviations that the deflectors produce in high-precision timing of millisecond pulsars.

show abstract

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

Cited by 200 publications

References 17 publications

Probing the Eclipse of J0737−3039A with Scintillation

Probing the Eclipse of J0737−3039A with Scintillation

Observing pulsars and fast transients with LOFAR

Deflection of Pulsar Signal Reveals Compact Structures in the Galaxy

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About