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Interstellar scintillation of an extreme scintillator: PKS B1144-379

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posted on 2023-05-20, 20:30 authored by Noor Masdiana Md Said, Simon EllingsenSimon Ellingsen, Bignall, HE, Stanislav ShabalaStanislav Shabala, Jamie McCallumJamie McCallum, Reynolds, C
The University of Tasmania Ceduna radio telescope has been used to investigate rapid variability in the radio flux density of the BL Lac object PKS B1144−379 at 6.7 GHz. High-cadence monitoring of this extreme scintillator was carried out over a period of approximately 9 yr, between 2003 and 2011. We have used structure functions created from the intensity time-series to determine the characteristic time-scale of the variability. The characteristic time-scale is consistently observed to increase during certain periods of each year, demonstrating the annual cycle expected for scintillation through an interstellar scattering screen. The best-fitting annual cycle model for each year suggests that the scintillation pattern has an anisotropic structure and that the upper limit of its scattering screen is at a distance of ∼0.84 kpc. Higher anisotropy in some of the annual cycle fits suggests that changes in the intrinsic source structure might be influencing the variability time-scale. We found a prominent annual cycle is only present in the variability time-scale for certain years, where other evidence suggests that the core is compact. From our measurements, we calculated that the core angular size varied between 5.65 and 15.90 μas (0.05–0.13 pc). The core component was found to be at its most compact during two flares in the total flux density, which were observed in 2005 and 2008. We conclude that the long-term variability in the radio flux density of PKS B1144−379 is due to intrinsic changes in the source and that these affect our ability to measure an annual cycle in its variability time-scale.

History

Publication title

Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Volume

498

Issue

4

Pagination

4615-4634

ISSN

0035-8711

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences

Publisher

Blackwell Publishing Ltd

Place of publication

9600 Garsington Rd, Oxford, England, Oxon, Ox4 2Dg

Rights statement

This article has been accepted for publication in Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society ©: 2020 the authors. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society. All rights reserved.

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