Oral Presentation

FRB scintillation and H0

Author(s):

Presenter: Daniel Baker (Academia Sinica Institute of Astronomy and Astrophysics/ASIAA)

Due to the small size of their emission regions, pulsar signals are an excellent probe of the Interstellar Medium )ISM) through pulsar scintillometry. As the signal propagates through the ISM, variations in electron density result in scattering of the light and allows for multipath propagation to Earth resulting in an observed interference pattern in the average pulsed intensity. Embedded in this signal there is significant information about the scattering region that can help us to understand the ISM on the smallest scales. In particular, many pulsars show evidence of the scattering being dominated by only a few, or just one, thin screens along the line of sight and with the extra paths passing through a nearly straight line of scattering points along the screen. Long term monitoring of pulsars has allowed us to determine the distance and orientation of the screens for a handful of pulsars, but many more remain to be studied. Measuring these screens will also be useful in removing the effects of scintillation from timing pulsars as well as FRBs. Additionally, these lenses have been used as solar system scale interferometers to resolver pulsar emission regions and could be used to measure distances to FRBs by resolving microlensing events.