[139.13] Simulation of Radio Wave Propagation Through the Turbulent ISM

AAS 205th Meeting, 9-13 January 2005
Session 139 The Ionized ISM: Observations and Theory
Poster, Thursday, January 13, 2005, 9:20am-4:00pm, Exhibit Hall

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[139.13] Simulation of Radio Wave Propagation Through the Turbulent ISM

M. L. Rudolph, K. A. Allen (Oberlin), T. J. W. Lazio (NRL), D. R. Stinebring (Oberlin)

Multiple imaging of pulsars by AU-scale structures results in (low-level) organized patterns in pulsar dynamic spectra and ``scintillation arcs'' in secondary spectra. Detailed new observations of scintillation arcs have been made in the past several years (e.~g. Hill et al. 2003 ApJ, 599, 457), showing evidence for scattering from stochastic {\em and} deterministic structures in the ionized ISM. Progress requires a comparison between observations and simulations of radio wave propagation through a random medium. We have developed a numerical simulation that does this, incorporating a power-law inhomogeneity spectrum with inner and outer scale cutoffs. Currently the simulation places the scattering in a single thin screen, but we plan to allow a more general distribution of scattering material along the line of sight. The simulation uses two spatial dimensions (transverse to the line of sight) and a radio frequency dimension. We present preliminary results of this modeling effort.

This work was supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation (PI: DRS). Basic research in radio astronomy at the NRL is supported by the Office of the Naval Research.

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