Scintillation observations of PSR B0823+26

Abstract

We present results of the analysis of interstellar scintillation in PSR B0823+26. Observations were conducted at a frequency of 1.7 GHz using the 32-m Torun Centre for Astronomy radio telescope. More than 50 observing sessions, lasting on average 10 h, were conducted between 2003 and 2006. We found interstellar scintillation parameters by means of dynamic spectrum analysis as well as structure function analysis of the flux density variations. We identified two distinctive time-scales, which we believe to be the time-scales of diffractive and refractive scintillation. Our results show that at the given frequency the diffractive time-scale in PSR B0823+26 is $\tau_{diss} = 19.3^{+1.7}_{-1.6}$ min, the refractive time-scale is $\tau_{riss} = 144 \pm 23$ min and the decorrelation bandwidth is $B_{iss} = 81 \pm 3$ MHz.