Constraining the vela pulsar's radio emission region using nyquist-limited scintillation statistics

Abstract

Using a novel technique, we achieve 100 picoarcsec resolution and set an upper bound of less than 4 km for the characteristic size of the Vela pulsar's emission region. Specifically, we analyze flux-density statistics of the Vela pulsar at 760MHz. Because the pulsar exhibits strong diffractive scintillation, these statistics convey information about the spatial extent of the radio emission region. We measure both a characteristic size of the emission region and the emission sizes for individual pulses. Our results imply that the radio emission altitude for the Vela pulsar at this frequency is less than 340km. © © 2012. The American Astronomical Society. All rights reserved..