A Scintillation Arc Survey of 22 Pulsars with Low to Moderate Dispersion Measures

Stinebring, D. R.; Rickett, B. J.; Minter, Anthony; Hill, Alex; Jussila, Adam; Mathis, Lele; McLaughlin, Maura; Ocker, Stella Koch; Ransom, Scott M.

doi:10.48550/arxiv.2207.08756

Cited by 3 publications

(5 citation statements)

References 70 publications

(130 reference statements)

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“…Our findings are consistent with recent suggestions that scintillation arcs are prevalent (Stinebring et al 2022), their detection primarily limited by frequency resolution and observation duration, provided the dynamic spectrum is high S/N and largely devoid of RFI. The nature of this survey manifests in strong biases, where arcs are easiest to detect in weakly scattered sources with high effective velocity -either through a high proper motion, or local screens, as in the case of J1731−4744.…”

Section: Ramificationssupporting

confidence: 92%

“…Recent surveys suggest scintillation arcs are common, if not prevalent. Stinebring et al (2022) found scintillation arcs in 19 out of 22 detected pulsars in a survey of bright, low Dispersion Measure (DM) pulsars using the Green Bank Telescope and the Arecibo Observatory. Wu et al (2022) detect scintillation arcs in 9 out of 31 sources with LOFAR at 110 − 190 MHz; scintillation becomes finer in both time and frequency, requiring very fine channelization and time sampling, resulting in harsh signal-to-noise limitations in detecting arcs.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The Thousand-Pulsar-Array programme on MeerKAT -- X. Scintillation arcs of 107 pulsars

Main,

Parthasarathy,

Johnston

et al. 2022

Preprint

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We present the detection of 107 pulsars with interstellar scintillation arcs at 856-1712 MHz, observed with the MeerKAT Thousand Pulsar Array Programme. Scintillation arcs appear to be ubiquitous in clean, high S/N observations, their detection mainly limited by short observing durations and coarse frequency channel resolution. This led the survey to be sensitive to nearby, lightly scattered pulsars with high effective velocity -from a large proper motion, a screen nearby the pulsar, or a screen near the Earth. We measure the arc curvatures in all of our sources, which can be used to give an estimate of screen distances in pulsars with known proper motion, or an estimate of the proper motion. The short scintillation timescale in J1731−4744 implies a scattering screen within 12 pc of the source, strongly suggesting the association between this pulsar and the supernova remnant RCW 114. We measure multiple parabolic arcs of 5 pulsars, all of which are weakly scintillating with high proper motion. Additionally, several sources show hints of inverted arclets suggesting scattering from anisotropic screens. Building on this work, further targeted MeerKAT observations of many of these pulsars will improve understanding of our local scattering environment and the origins of scintillation; annual scintillation curves would lead to robust screen distance measurements, and the evolution of arclets in time and frequency can constrain models of scintillation.

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Section: Ramificationssupporting

confidence: 92%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Thousand-Pulsar-Array programme on MeerKAT -- X. Scintillation arcs of 107 pulsars

Main,

Parthasarathy,

Johnston

et al. 2022

Preprint

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“…Of these stars, ≈100 had reliable temperature measurements with all stars being cooler than A-class stars, therefore not hypothesised to cause extreme scattering (Walker et al 2017). While other studies have found the local bubble to contribute to the scattering of pulsars (Stinebring et al 2022;McKee et al 2022), the screen distance excludes that being the case here.…”

Section: Screen Associationsmentioning

confidence: 65%

“…With a well-measured distance to PSR J1909−3744 of 𝐷 = 1158 ± 3 pc and 𝑠 = 0.49 ± 0.04 we estimate the screen distance to be 𝐷 𝑠 = 590 ± 50 pc, and we can explore potential associations along the line of sight at this distance. Previous works have found scattering screen associations with supernovae remnants (Yao et al 2021;Main et al 2021), star-forming HII regions (Gupta et al 1994;Mall et al 2022), the Loop I bubble (Bhat et al 1998), the local bubble, (Reardon et al 2020;Stinebring et al 2022) and hot stars (type O-B-A stars) (Walker et al 2017). We first searched the Southern H𝛼 Sky Survey Atlas (Gaustad et al 2001) for anomalous H𝛼 sources along the line of sight.…”

Section: Screen Associationsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of the ionized interstellar medium and orbital dynamics of PSR J1909-3744 using scintillation arcs

Askew

Reardon

Shannon

2022

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Long-term studies of binary millisecond pulsars (MSPs) provide precise tests of strong-field gravity and can be used to measure neutron-star masses. PSR J1909−3744, a binary MSP has been the subject of several pulsar timing analyses. The edge-on orbit enables measurement of its mass using the Shapiro delay; however, there is degeneracy in the sense of the inclination angle, i, and multiple solutions for the longitude of ascending node, Ω. Radio pulsars scintillate due to inhomogeneities in the ionized interstellar medium (IISM). This can result in scintillation arcs in the power spectrum of the dynamic spectrum that can use these to study the interstellar medium and constrain binary pulsar orbits. Here, we study the scintillation of PSR J1909-3744 using observations from the 64-m Parkes Radio Telescope (Murriyang) over ≈13 years, using techniques to study scintillation in a lower signal-to-noise regime. By monitoring annual and orbital variations of the arc-curvature measurements we are able to characterise the velocity of the IISM. We find that the statistics of the IISM remained stationary over this time and a slightly anisotropic model (axial ratio ≳ 1.2) is preferred. We measure the relative distance to a single dominant thin scattering screen at s = 0.49 ± 0.04, or Ds = 590 ± 50 pc, with an angle of anisotropy ζ = 85 ± 6○ (East of North) and velocity in the direction of anisotropy VIISM, ζ = 14 ± 10 km s−1. By combining a physical model of the IISM and current pulsar timing results, we also constrain Ω = 225 ± 3○ and i = 86.46 ± 0.05○.

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“…Comparing the power at these widely different scales can provide a precise estimate of the spectral exponent of the turbulence. These larger scales also often exhibit non-stationary behavior such as "extreme scattering events" (ESE; Fiedler et al 1987;Coles et al 2015;Stinebring et al 2022), which are still not understood in spite of 30 years of work.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Determining electron column density fluctuations in a dominant scattering region using pulsar scintillation

Reardon

Coles

2023

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

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Density fluctuations in the ionised interstellar medium have a profound effect on radio pulsar observations, through angular scattering, intensity scintillations, and small changes in time delays from dispersion. Here we show that it is possible to recover the variations in dispersive delays that originate from a dominant scattering region using measurements of the dynamic spectrum of intensity scintillations, provided that the pulsar velocity and scattering region location are known. We provide a theoretical framework for the technique, which involves estimating the phase gradient from the dynamic spectra and integrating that gradient to obtain phase variations. It can be used to search for “extreme scattering events” (ESEs) in pulsars for which precision dispersion delay measurements are not otherwise possible, or to separate true dispersion variations from apparent variability caused by frequency-dependent pulse shape changes. We demonstrate that it works in practice by recovering an ESE in PSR J1603−7202, which is known from precision dispersion delay measurements from pulsar timing. For this pulsar, we find that the phase gradients also track the long-term variations in electron column density observed by pulsar timing, indicating that the column density variations and the scattering are dominated by the same thin scattering screen. We identify a sudden increase in the scintillation strength and magnitude of phase gradients over ∼days in 2010, indicating a compact structure. A decrease in the electron density in 2012 was associated with persistent phase gradients and preceded a period of decreased scintillation strength and an absence of scintillation arcs.

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A Scintillation Arc Survey of 22 Pulsars with Low to Moderate Dispersion Measures

Cited by 3 publications

References 70 publications

The Thousand-Pulsar-Array programme on MeerKAT -- X. Scintillation arcs of 107 pulsars

The Thousand-Pulsar-Array programme on MeerKAT -- X. Scintillation arcs of 107 pulsars

Analysis of the ionized interstellar medium and orbital dynamics of PSR J1909-3744 using scintillation arcs

Determining electron column density fluctuations in a dominant scattering region using pulsar scintillation

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