Description
The fraction of compact active galactic nuclei (AGNs) that exhibit interstellar scintillation (ISS) at radio wavelengths, as well as their scintillation amplitudes, have been found to decrease significantly for sources at redshifts z>~2. This can be attributed to an increase in the angular sizes of the {mu}as-scale cores or a decrease in the flux densities of the compact {mu}as cores relative to that of the mas-scale components with increasing redshift, possibly arising from (1) the space-time curvature of an expanding universe, (2) AGN evolution, (3) source selection biases, (4) scatter broadening in the ionized intergalactic medium (IGM) and intervening galaxies, or (5) gravitational lensing. We examine the frequency scaling of this redshift dependence of ISS to determine its origin, using data from a dual-frequency survey of ISS of 128 sources at 0<~z<~4. We present a novel method of analysis which accounts for selection effects in the source sample.
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