Figure 12

Figure 12: Left panel: Pulse scattering caused by irregularities in the interstellar medium. The different path lengths and travel times of the scattered rays result in a “scattering tail” in the observed pulse profile which lowers its signal-to-noise ratio. Right panel: A simulation showing the percentage of Galactic pulsars that are likely to be undetectable due to scattering as a function of observing frequency. Low-frequency (≲ 1 GHz) surveys clearly miss a large percentage of the population due to this effect.