Tracking dispersion measure variations of timing array pulsars with the GMRT

Abstract

We present the results from nearly three years of monitoring of the variations in dispersion measure (DM) along the line-of-sight to 11 millisecond pulsars using the Giant Metrewave Radio Telescope (GMRT). These results demonstrate accuracies of single epoch DM estimates of the order of 5x10^(-4) cm^(-3) pc. A preliminary comparison with the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) data shows that the measured DM fluctuations are comparable. We show effects of DM variations due to the solar wind and solar corona and compare with the existing models.