PSR~B0355+54: An Unexpected Compendium of Nearly All Scintillation Arc Morphologies
Abstract
Scintillation arcs are sensitive probes of multipath propagation, offering a window into the distribution of scattering material in the interstellar medium. Contrary to the common observational finding that individual pulsars exhibit only a limited range of scintillation arc morphologies, we report that PSR~B0355+54, observed simultaneously at 2.25/8.60~GHz with the Shanghai Tianma Radio Telescope, displays nearly the full range of known arc patterns, many of which evolve rapidly. Across 54 observations from 2020 to 2026, we detect scintillation arcs in 53/53 usable observations at 2.25~GHz and 33/49 at 8.60~GHz. At 2.25~GHz, the secondary spectra exhibit five broad morphological types: forward arcs, inverted arclets, diffuse arcs, diffuse power, and irregular structures, with prominent displaced arclets appearing in several observations. In contrast, the 8.60-GHz spectra are generally dominated by faint forward arcs. Despite these marked morphological differences, the scaled curvatures and their annual variations agree between the two frequencies, showing that both trace the same dominant scattering screen at a fractional distance of s=0.069+0.015−0.014 near the pulsar, further supporting a possible association with the \ion{H}{ii} region Sh~2-205. Simulations show that this diversity can arise from variations in the scattered-image distribution within this screen, while brightness reconstructions at 2.25~GHz resolve localized structure down to ∼0.02 mas. Tracking four arclets over 10~h at 8.60~GHz, including two displaced arclets, reveals a common evolutionary trend consistent with the line of sight sweeping across small-scale scattering structure, helping explain the rapid arc evolution.
Related
- The giant pulse population of PSR B0355+54
- Pulsar scintillation arcs formed from correlated volume scattering
- One Precessing Jet Pair, Diverse Core-Collapse Supernova Remnant Morphologies
- A high-Galactic-altitude scattering screen: scintillation from Globular Cluster pulsar M53A
- A High-Galactic-altitude Scattering Screen: Scintillation from Globular Cluster Pulsar M53A
BibTeX
@misc{liao2026psrb035554,
title = {{PSR~B0355+54: An Unexpected Compendium of Nearly All Scintillation Arc Morphologies}},
author = {Zhen-Long Liao and Zhen Yan and Zhi-Qiang Shen and Rui Wang and Xun Shi and Ke-Jia Lee and Ju-Mei Yao and Xiao-Wei Wang and Zhi-Peng Huang and Kuo Liu and Yong-Hua Xu and Chu-Yuan Zhang and Fan Yang and Yang-Yang Lin},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.27005},
eprint = {2610.27005},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.27005},
note = {CC BY-SA 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - PSR~B0355+54: An Unexpected Compendium of Nearly All Scintillation Arc Morphologies
AU - Zhen-Long Liao
AU - Zhen Yan
AU - Zhi-Qiang Shen
AU - Rui Wang
AU - Xun Shi
AU - Ke-Jia Lee
AU - Ju-Mei Yao
AU - Xiao-Wei Wang
AU - Zhi-Peng Huang
AU - Kuo Liu
AU - Yong-Hua Xu
AU - Chu-Yuan Zhang
AU - Fan Yang
AU - Yang-Yang Lin
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/19
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.27005
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.27005
AB - Scintillation arcs are sensitive probes of multipath propagation, offering a window into the distribution of scattering material in the interstellar medium. Contrary to the common observational finding that individual pulsars exhibit only a limited range of scintillation arc morphologies, we report that PSR~B0355+54, observed simultaneously at 2.25/8.60~GHz with the Shanghai Tianma Radio Telescope, displays nearly the full range of known arc patterns, many of which evolve rapidly. Across 54 observations from 2020 to 2026, we detect scintillation arcs in 53/53 usable observations at 2.25~GHz and 33/49 at 8.60~GHz. At 2.25~GHz, the secondary spectra exhibit five broad morphological types: forward arcs, inverted arclets, diffuse arcs, diffuse power, and irregular structures, with prominent displaced arclets appearing in several observations. In contrast, the 8.60-GHz spectra are generally dominated by faint forward arcs. Despite these marked morphological differences, the scaled curvatures and their annual variations agree between the two frequencies, showing that both trace the same dominant scattering screen at a fractional distance of s=0.069^+0.015_−0.014 near the pulsar, further supporting a possible association with the \ion{H}{ii} region Sh~2-205. Simulations show that this diversity can arise from variations in the scattered-image distribution within this screen, while brightness reconstructions at 2.25~GHz resolve localized structure down to ∼0.02 mas. Tracking four arclets over 10~h at 8.60~GHz, including two displaced arclets, reveals a common evolutionary trend consistent with the line of sight sweeping across small-scale scattering structure, helping explain the rapid arc evolution.
ER -