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Peer-reviewedCC BY 4.0Astronomy & Astrophysics - A&A

Probing turbulence in the ionized interstellar medium using young pulsars. I. Dispersion measure variations

  • S.J.I Melfor
  • A Parthasarathy
  • S Johnston
  • Aurélien Chalumeau
  • S Dai
  • M Kerr
  • M.E Lower
  • R.N Manchester
  • L.S Oswald
  • S Roch
  • C.A Sobey
  • P Weltevrede
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Abstract

Temporal variations in the dispersion measure (DM) of pulsars probe fluctuations in the free-electron density of the ionized interstellar medium (IISM). While DM variations have been studied extensively in millisecond pulsars, young pulsars provide a complementary probe due to their lines of sight (LoSs) intersecting supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae, and other turbulent environments. However, systematic studies of DM variability in young pulsars remain limited. In this paper, We characterize the temporal DM variations of a large population of young pulsars to constrain the turbulence of the IISM along their LoSs and to investigate the physical origins of the observed variability. We analyzed 18 years of timing observations of 364 young pulsars obtained with the Murriyang/Parkes radio telescope, combining legacy data from the 21 cm Multibeam receiver with recent observations from the ultra-wideband low-frequency (UWL) receiver. Epoch-wise DM measurements were derived from sub-banded times of arrival, and the variability was characterized using linear trends and DM structure functions, which were compared with expectations for a Kolmogorov turbulence. Significant DM variations are detected in 89 pulsars in the UWL data and in 23 pulsars in the multibeam data, with 16 in the combined dataset showing significant trends. This represents one of the largest long-baseline studies of DM variability in pulsars. We find tentative evidence that the observed DM variations are predominantly consistent with Kolmogorov turbulence. PSRs J1105-6107 and J1829-1751 show estimated DM variations driven by periodic profile variability. We also identify 21 bright, slow pulsars exhibiting short-term DM variations that exceed expectations from the IISM.

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Cite

BibTeXRIS
BibTeX
@article{melfor2026probing,
  title = {{Probing turbulence in the ionized interstellar medium using young pulsars. I. Dispersion measure variations}},
  author = {S.J.I Melfor and A Parthasarathy and S Johnston and Aurélien Chalumeau and S Dai and M Kerr and M.E Lower and R.N Manchester and L.S Oswald and S Roch and C.A Sobey and P Weltevrede},
  journal = {Astronomy \& Astrophysics - A\&A},
  year = {2026},
  month = oct,
  doi = {10.1051/0004-6361/202660370},
  eprint = {2610.08318},
  archivePrefix = {arXiv},
  url = {https://hal.science/hal-05842246v1},
  note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY  - JOUR
TI  - Probing turbulence in the ionized interstellar medium using young pulsars. I. Dispersion measure variations
AU  - S.J.I Melfor
AU  - A Parthasarathy
AU  - S Johnston
AU  - Aurélien Chalumeau
AU  - S Dai
AU  - M Kerr
AU  - M.E Lower
AU  - R.N Manchester
AU  - L.S Oswald
AU  - S Roch
AU  - C.A Sobey
AU  - P Weltevrede
PY  - 2026
DA  - 2026/10/06
JO  - Astronomy & Astrophysics - A&A
DO  - 10.1051/0004-6361/202660370
UR  - https://hal.science/hal-05842246v1
AB  - Temporal variations in the dispersion measure (DM) of pulsars probe fluctuations in the free-electron density of the ionized interstellar medium (IISM). While DM variations have been studied extensively in millisecond pulsars, young pulsars provide a complementary probe due to their lines of sight (LoSs) intersecting supernova remnants, pulsar wind nebulae, and other turbulent environments. However, systematic studies of DM variability in young pulsars remain limited. In this paper, We characterize the temporal DM variations of a large population of young pulsars to constrain the turbulence of the IISM along their LoSs and to investigate the physical origins of the observed variability. We analyzed 18 years of timing observations of 364 young pulsars obtained with the Murriyang/Parkes radio telescope, combining legacy data from the 21 cm Multibeam receiver with recent observations from the ultra-wideband low-frequency (UWL) receiver. Epoch-wise DM measurements were derived from sub-banded times of arrival, and the variability was characterized using linear trends and DM structure functions, which were compared with expectations for a Kolmogorov turbulence. Significant DM variations are detected in 89 pulsars in the UWL data and in 23 pulsars in the multibeam data, with 16 in the combined dataset showing significant trends. This represents one of the largest long-baseline studies of DM variability in pulsars. We find tentative evidence that the observed DM variations are predominantly consistent with Kolmogorov turbulence. PSRs J1105-6107 and J1829-1751 show estimated DM variations driven by periodic profile variability. We also identify 21 bright, slow pulsars exhibiting short-term DM variations that exceed expectations from the IISM.
SN  - 0004-6361
SN  - 1432-0746
ER  -