Long-term flux density variations of pulsars: Theoretical structure functions and comparisons with observations

Abstract

By means of the refractive interstellar scintillation theory (RISS), the flux density structure functions of PSRs B1642-03, B0736-40, B0740-28 and B0329+54 are calculated and compared with the observations at 610 MHz by Stinebring et al. (2000, hereafter S2000). The theoretical results are in good agreement with observations and the spectra of the electron density fluctuation are all consistent with the Kolmogorov spectra. The theoretical modulation indices m are comparatively less sensitive to the distance H from the observer to the scattering screen but critically depend on the scattering strength $\overline{C_{N}^{2}}$. The structure function does not change remarkably with the variation of H if the scattering screen is closer to the pulsar than to the observer. The results in this paper indicate that the flux density variations observed for these four pulsars are due to a propagation effect (refractive scintillation), not to the intrinsic variability.