A reanalysis of pulsar dispersion data

In this paper, we discuss the derivations of the scale heights of electrons, pulsars and scattering irregularities in the Galaxy. We find that some recent derivations neglect the effect of H II regions on dispersion measures, and so overestimate the distances and scale height of the pulsars. We reanalyse the dispersion data, and find that the electron scale-height is 264 pc, the pulsar scale-height is 162 pc, and the scale height of the scattering irregularities that are responsible for pulsar scintillations is 79 pc. The mean electron density in the galactic plane is $$4.8 \times 10^{4} m^{-3}$$.