NE2025: An Updated Electron Density Model for the Galactic Interstellar Medium

Abstract Free electrons in the Galactic interstellar medium (ISM) disperse and scatter coherent radio waves, by amounts that depend on the distance to the radio source. Models of the Galactic electron density are thus widely used to predict distances and scattering of compact radio sources (including pulsars, fast radio bursts, and long-period transients), in addition to mitigating ISM foregrounds in Galactic and extragalactic studies. We use a sample of 171 precise pulsar distances, based entirely on parallaxes and globular cluster associations, as well as scattering measurements of 568 pulsars, active galactic nuclei, and masers, to update the NE2001 Galactic electron density model. We refit the thick and thin disks and three of the spiral arms. The new parameters for these large-scale components significantly repartition free electrons between the thick disk and spiral arms, thereby correcting NE2001’s systematic underestimation of pulsar distance and scattering. Sight lines with excessive dispersion and scattering are used to identify new clumps that are added to the model, in addition to refining clumps that were already included (e.g., Cygnus, Vela, and Gum). The Galactic Center component is revised, yielding scattering time predictions that are 10 3 times smaller than the Galactic Center in NE2001. The updated model, NE2025, provides a factor of 20× improvement in median distance prediction accuracy and 100% median improvement in scattering predictions based on dispersion measure, relative to NE2001. There is a 15× improvement in median distance prediction accuracy relative to YMW16. NE2025 is available on Github and the Python Package Interface.