Pulsar scintillation patterns and strangelets

Abstract

We propose that interstellar extreme scattering events, usually observed as pulsar scintillations, may be caused by a coherent agent rather than the usually assumed turbulence of ${\mathrm{H}}_2$ clouds. We find that the penetration of a flux of ionizing, positively charged strangelets or quark nuggets into a dense interstellar hydrogen cloud may produce ionization trails. Depending on the specific nature and energy of the incoming droplets, diffusive propagation or even capture in the cloud are possible. As a result, enhanced electron densities may form and constitute a lens-like scattering screen for radio pulsars and possibly for quasars.

5 pages, 2 figures

References in corpus (4)

• The mass ejection from the merger of binary neutron stars
• Strangelets and the TeV-PeV cosmic-ray anisotropies
• GAMMA-LIGHT: High-Energy Astrophysics above 10 MeV
• Strangelets in Cosmic Rays

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• Pulsar lensing geometry
• Noodle Model for Scintillation Arcs
• From strangelets to strange stars: A unified description
• Dark matter and bubble nucleation in old neutron stars
• On self-gravitating strange dark matter halos around galaxies
• Anisotropy in Cosmic rays from internal transitions in neutron stars
• Radiation from cold molecular clouds and Sun chromosphere produced by anti-quark nugget dark matter
• Neutron stars as probes of dark matter