Variable Scintillation Arcs of Millisecond Pulsars observed with the Large European Array for Pulsars

TL;DR

This study analyzes scintillation arcs in 12 millisecond pulsars using LEAP and Effelsberg data, revealing complex scattering behaviors, multiple screens, and their implications for pulsar timing and astrophysics.

Contribution

First large sample analysis of scintillation arcs in millisecond pulsars, modeling arc curvature variations and their impact on pulsar parameter measurements.

Findings

Detected compact and diffuse scattering arcs in multiple pulsars.

Modeled annual and orbital arc curvature variations, constraining pulsar orbital parameters.

Identified multiple scattering screens with variable properties affecting pulsar observations.

Abstract

We present the first large sample of scintillation arcs in millisecond pulsars, analysing 12 sources observed with the Large European Array for Pulsars (LEAP), and the Effelsberg 100\,m telescope. We estimate the delays from multipath propagation, measuring significant correlated changes in scattering timescales over a 10-year timespan. Many sources show compact concentrations of power in the secondary spectrum, which in PSRs J0613$-$0200 and J1600$-$3053 can be tracked between observations, and are consistent with compact scattering at fixed angular positions. Other sources such as PSRs J1643$-$1224 and J0621+1002 show diffuse, asymmetric arcs which are likely related to phase-gradients across the scattering screen. PSR B1937+21 shows at least three distinct screens which dominate at different times and evidence of varying screen axes or multi-screen interactions. We model annual and orbital arc curvature variations in PSR J0613$-$0200, providing a measurement of the longitude of ascending node, resolving the sense of the orbital inclination, where our best fit model is of a screen with variable axis of anisotropy over time, corresponding to changes in the scattering of the source. Unmodeled variations of the screen's axis of anisotropy are likely to be a limiting factor in determining orbital parameters with scintillation, requiring careful consideration of variable screen properties, or independent VLBI measurements. Long-term scintillation studies such as this serve as a complementary tool to pulsar timing, to measure a source of correlated noise for pulsar timing arrays, solve pulsar orbits, and to understand the astrophysical origin of scattering screens.