A New Model for the Galactic Electron Density & its Fluctuations
J. M. Cordes, Cornell [email protected]
BU Milky Way Workshop 17 June 2003
• New electron density model (ne & ne): NE2001 w/ J. Lazio
• How different from Taylor & Cordes ’93 and other models?
• Ingredients and performance
• VLBI astrometry = breakthrough
• Arecibo + GBT + VLA + Effelsburg + Jodrell = parallax machine
• Square Kilometer Array = Mother of all parallax machines
• Future modeling: radio+CO, radio+H, radio + -rays (GLAST)
• Future pulsar surveys (Arecibo/ALFA, SKA)
w/ S. Chatterjee, W. Brisken, M. Goss, S. Thorsett
NE2001 (uses data through 2001)
Paper I = the model (astro-ph/0207156)
Paper II = methodology & particular lines of sight (astro-ph/0301598)
Code + driver files + papers:www.astro.cornell.edu/~cordes/NE2001
Why detailed modeling?• Distance scale for neutron stars
– Neutron star populations (space density, luminosities)– Birth/death rates– Correlations with supernova remnants
• Designing Radio Pulsar Surveys• Turbulence in Galactic plasma• Galactic magnetic fields (deconstructing Faraday
rotation measures)• Interpreting scintillations of sources at
cosmological distances (AGNs, GRBs)• Baseline model for exploring the intergalactic
medium (dispersion & scattering in ISM, IGM)
Deficiencies of TC93
• DM too small for distant, high latitude objects• Distances overestimated for many objects in the
Galactic plane (10% of now-known objects have DMs too large to be accounted for)
• Pulse broadening over/underestimated in some directions
• Spiral arms incompletely defined over Galaxy• No Galactic center component
Estimated Wavenumber Spectrum for ne
Similar to Armstrong, Rickett & Spangler (1995)
Slope ~ -11/3
Spectrum = Cn2 q-
ne2 = d3q Cn
2 q-
SM = ds Cn2 (s)
Integrated Measures
• DM ds ne Dispersion Measure
• EM ds ne2 Emission Measure
• RM ds ne B Rotation Measure
• SM ds Cn2 Scattering Measure
Spectrum = Cn2 q-, q = wavenumber
(temporal spectrum not well constrained,
relevant velocities ~ 10 km/s)
= 11/3 (Kolmogorov value)
Scales ~ 1000 km to > pc
Integrated Measures
• DM ds ne Dispersion Measure
• EM ds ne2 Emission Measure
• RM ds ne B Rotation Measure
• SM ds Cn2 Scattering Measure
Spectrum = Cn2 q-, q = wavenumber
(temporal spectrum not well constrained,
relevant velocities ~ 10 km/s)
= 11/3 (Kolmogorov value)
Scales ~ 1000 km to > pc
Integrated Measures• DM ds ne Dispersion Measure
• EM ds ne2 Emission Measure
• RM ds ne B Rotation Measure
• SM ds Cn2 Scattering Measure
Spectrum = Cn2 q-, q = wavenumber
(temporal spectrum not well constrained,
relevant velocities ~ 10 km/s)
= 11/3 (Kolmogorov value)
Scales ~ 1000 km to > pc
Independent Pulsar Distances
• Parallaxes: Pulse timing Interferometry
• Associations: Supernova remnants Globular clusters
• HI Absorption: Galactic rotation
Very Long Baseline Array
PSR B0919+06S. Chatterjee et al. (2001) = 88.5 0.13 mas/yr = 0.83 0.13 mas
D = 1.2kpcV = 505 km/s
Brisken et al.
2001; 2002
NE2001• Goal is to model ne(x) and Cn
2(x) Fne2(x) in the Galaxy
• Input data = {DM, EM, SM, [DL, DU] = distance ranges}
• Prior input: – Galactic structure, HII regions, spiral-arm loci
– Multi- constraints on local ISM (H, NaI, X-ray)
• Figures of merit:– N> = number of objects with DM > DM (model) (minimize)
– Nhits = number of LOS where predicted = measured distance: d(model) [DL, DU] (maximize)
– L = likelihood function using distances & scattering (maximize)
• Basic procedure: get distances right first, then get scattering (turbulence) parameters
NE2001• x2 more lines of sight (D,DM,SM)
[114 with D/DM, 471 with SM/D or DM] (excludes Parkes MB obj.)
• Local ISM component (new) (new VLBI parallaxes)[12 parameters]
• Thin & thick disk components (as in TC93) [8 parameters]
• Spiral arms (revised from TC93) [21 parameters]
• Galactic center component (new)[3 parameters] (+auxiliary VLA/VLBA data ; Lazio & Cordes 1998)
• Individual clumps/voids of enhanced dDM/dSM (new)[3 parameters x 20 LOS]
• Improved fitting method (iterative likelihood analysis)penalty if distance or SM is not predicted to within the errors
Local ISM components & results
Model Components
Galactic Center Component
Thin disk
Thick disk (1 kpc)
Spiral arms
DM vs Galactic longitude for different latitude bins
DM vs Galactic longitude for different latitude bins
134 of 1143 TC93 distances are lower bounds
DM(psr)-DM(model, )
Asymptotic DM
Spatial fluctuations in ne
recall dSM = Cn2 ds F ne
2 ds F ne dDM F = “fluctuation parameter”
varies widely over Galaxy F (ne / ne )2 / f (outer scale)2/3
(f = volume filling factor of ionized cloudlets)
F varies by >100 between outer/inner Galaxy
change in ISM porosity due to change in star formation rate (?)
outer scale ~ 0.01 pc in HII shells, GC > 1 pc in tenuous thin disk
estimate: ne / ne ~ 1
dSM F ne dDM
F (ne / ne )2 / f (outer scale)2/3
small F
large F
Evidence for variations in turbulence properties between inner & outer Galaxy
Selected ApplicationsGalactic turbulence
anisotropy of fluctuations
relation to B and CR prop’n
expect correlations of
-ray emission & scattering
(GLAST needed)
IGM in local group
M33 giant pulses from
Crab-like pulsars DM,SM
IGM on cosmological scales
scattering/scint’n of AGNs
by intervening galaxies, Ly
clouds, turbulence in cluster
gas, HII regions at EOR
GRB & IDV scintillations
source sizes vs. t
ambient medium
IGM
New Parallax Programs
• 53 pulsars using VLBA antennas only at 1.4 GHz (systematics: ionospheric phase)
• Chatterjee, Brisken et al. (2002-2004)
• Currently can reach ~ 2 kpc
• 6 strong pulsars, VLBA-only at 5 GHz • Ionosphere less important
• Chatterjee, Cordes et al. (2001-ongoing)
• VLBA + Arecibo + GBT + … • Initial tests
• Expect to do ~100 pulsars in 5 years, some to 5 kpc
• Future: SKA superior phase calibration, sensitivity, can reach >10 kpc
Surveys with with Parkes, , Arecibo & GBT.
Simulated & actual pulsars shown
Yield ~ 1000 pulsars in ALFA survey
SKA pulsar survey
600 s per beam
~104 psr’s
Comments & Summary• NE2001 = large improvement over TC93
• Caveat: HII regions, etc are grossly undersampled by available LOS• Need ~ 104 DMs to adequately model the MW from pulsars alone
• Large-scale structures are imposed and parameterized • VLBI (esp. with Arecibo, GBT, Jodrell, Effelsberg, etc) will
yield many new parallaxes, obviating the need for DM distances for ~100 pulsars in a few yr
• New pulsar surveys will double sample in ~ 5 yr• Next version (NE200X) will
• Use scattering measurements of Parkes Multibeam sample• Define spiral arms more empirically using pulsar + HI, H, CO results
• Other distance approaches possible:• Radio = standard candles if beaming accounted for
• Expect tighter LX , L with better distance models.
Modeling the Galactic ne & ne
• mean & fluctuations are modelled
• dSM = Cn2 ds F ne
2 ds F ne dDM F = “fluctuation parameter” varies widely over Galaxy
• ne ~ Cn (outer scale)1/3
• possible/probable ne / ne ~ 1
• not clear that ne on all scales due to same process
Electron density of TC93
Taylor & Cordes (1993 ApJ, 411, 674)
NE2001 • x2 more lines of sight (D,DM,SM) [114
with D/DM, 471 with SM/D or DM] (Parkes MB in next version)
• Local ISM component (new)[12 parameters]
• Thin & thick disk components (as in TC93) [8 parameters]
• Spiral arms (revised from TC93) [21 parameters]
• Galactic center component (new)[3 parameters] (+auxiliary VLA/VLBA data ; Lazio & Cordes
1998)
• Individual `clumps’ of enhanced DM/SM (new)[5 parameters per clump] (Voids also)
• Improved fitting method (iterative likelihood analysis)penalty if distance or SM is not predicted to within the errors
Pulsar Velocities• Lyne & Lorimer 1994:
• Proper motions + TC93 <V> ~ 500 km/s
• Unimodal distribution
• Cordes & Chernoff 1997:• MSP analysis (TC93) <V> ~ 80 km/s
• Cordes & Chernoff 1998: • High-field pulsars (TC93), < 10 Myr, 3D velocities (z/t)
• No correction for selection effects bimodal V, 1~ 175 km/s, 2~ 700 km/s (14%)
• Arzoumanian, Chernoff & Cordes 2002:• Full analysis (beaming, selection effects, TC93) bimodal V, 1~ 90 km/s, 2~ 500 km/s (40%)
ACC ‘02
How might the results change using NE2001 instead of TC93?
Guitar Nebula & PSR B2224+65
Edot ~ 1033 erg/s P~0.6 sec
D(TC93) = 2 kpc V~1700 km/s
D(NE2001) = 1.7 kpc V~1450 km/s
H Palomar 5-m image
Is the DM distance Realistic?
Is the DM distance Realistic? Yes
Standoff radius and flux are consistent
Pulsar velocities using only objects with parallax measurements
Distribution shows high-velocity tail and is “not inconsistent” with ACC results on high-field pulsars and CC97 on MSPs
Parkes MB Feeds
Arecibo Multibeam Surveys
I. Arecibo Galactic-Plane Survey
• |b| < 5 deg, 32 deg < l < 80 deg
• 1.5 GHz total bandwidth = 300 MHz
• digital correlator backend (1024 channels)(1st quadrant available = WAPP)
• multibeam system (7 feeds)
• ~300 s integrations, 3000 hours total
• Can see 2.5 to 5 times further than Parkes(period dependent)
• Expect ~500 to 1000 new pulsars
II. High Galactic Latitude Survey
• Millisecond pulsars(z scale height ~ 0.5 kpc)
• High-velocity pulsars (50% escape) (scale height = )
• NS-NS binaries (typical z ~ 5 kpc)
• NS-BH binaries (typical z ~ few kpc ?)
Search for:
NE2001 Spiral Arms
Electron density (log gray scale to enhance local ISM)
Differential TOA from Multipath:
Quenching of pulsations for d > P.
NE2001 = New Model Cordes & Lazio 2002 astro-ph July
www.astro.cornell.edu/~cordes/NE2001
• Goal is to model ne(x) and Cn2(x) in the Galaxy
• Software to the community (cf web site)• Supercedes earlier model (Taylor & Cordes 1993, ApJ)• Investigate application spinoffs:
– Astronomical: • scattering degradation of pulsar surveys
• Imaging surveys at low frequencies (LOFAR, SKA)
• SETI
– Astrophysical:• Physics of interstellar turbulence
• Connection to magnetic fluctuations & CR propagation (scales probed match CR gyroradii over wide energy range)
Deficiencies of TC93
• DM too small for distant, high latitude objects• Distances overestimated for many objects in the
Galactic plane (10% of now-known objects have DMs too large to be accounted for)
• Pulse broadening over/underestimated in some directions
• Spiral arms incompletely defined over Galaxy• No Galactic center component