Periodic interstellar scintillation variations of PSRs J0613–0200 and J0636+5128 associated with the Local Bubble shell

Liu, Yulan; Main, Robert A.; Verbiest, Joris P.W.; Wu, Ziwei; Ambalappat, Krishnakumar M.; Lu, Jiguang; Champion, David J.; Cognard, Ismaël; Guillemot, Lucas; Liu, Kuo; McKee, James W.; Porayko, Nataliya; Shaifullah, Golam M.; Theureau, Gilles

Abstract

Annual variations of interstellar scintillation can be modelled to constrain parameters of the ionized interstellar medium. If a pulsar is in a binary system, then investigating the orbital parameters is possible through analysis of the orbital variation of scintillation. In observations carried out from 2011 to 2020 by the European Pulsar Timing Array radio telescopes, PSRs J0613–0200 and J0636+5128 show strong annual variations in their scintillation velocity, while the former additionally exhibits an orbital fluctuation. Bayesian theory and Markov-chain-Monte-Carlo methods are used to interpret these periodic variations. We assume a thin and anisotropic scattering screen model, and discuss the mildly and extremely anisotropic scattering cases. PSR J0613–0200 is best described by mildly anisotropic scattering, while PSR J0636+5128 exhibits extremely anisotropic scattering. We measure the distance, velocity, and degree of anisotropy of the scattering screen for our two pulsars, finding that scattering screen distances from Earth for PSRs J0613–0200 and J0636+5128 are 316 −20+28 pc and 262 −38+96 pc, respectively. The positions of these scattering screens are coincident with the shell of the Local Bubble towards both pulsars. These associations add to the growing evidence of the Local Bubble shell as a dominant region of scattering along many sightlines.

Citation

Liu, Y., Main, R. A., Verbiest, J. P., Wu, Z., Ambalappat, K. M., Lu, J., Champion, D. J., Cognard, I., Guillemot, L., Liu, K., McKee, J. W., Porayko, N., Shaifullah, G. M., & Theureau, G. (2023). Periodic interstellar scintillation variations of PSRs J0613–0200 and J0636+5128 associated with the Local Bubble shell. Science China Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy, 66(11), Article 119512. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-023-2182-6

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jul 19, 2023
• Online Publication Date: Oct 10, 2023
• Publication Date: Nov 1, 2023
• Deposit Date: Oct 26, 2023
• Publicly Available Date: Nov 28, 2024
• Journal: Science China: Physics, Mechanics and Astronomy
• Print ISSN: 1674-7348
• Electronic ISSN: 1869-1927
• Publisher: Chinese Academy of Sciences
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 66
• Issue: 11
• Article Number: 119512
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11433-023-2182-6
• Keywords: Pulsar; Interstellar scintillation; Ionized interstellar medium
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/4426014
• Other Repo URL: https://arxiv.org/abs/2307.09745