Interstellar Medium (ISM)

We can probe the ionized interstellar medium through imaging and timing observations of compact radio sources. As the radio waves pass through the interstellar medium, they are distorted and delayed by a variety of optical effects, including dispersion, scattering, scintillation, and refraction. Our members are working to understand how different physical effects manifest in our observations, what discrete structures exist in the interstellar medium, and what the turbulent nature of the interstellar medium is.