A comparison of Galactic electron density models using PyGEDM

Galactic electron density distribution models are crucial tools for estimating the impact of the ionised interstellar medium on the impulsive signals from radio pulsars and fast radio bursts. The two prevailing Galactic electron density models are YMW16 (Yao et al., 2017) and NE2001 (Cordes & Lazio, 2002). Here, we introduce a software package PyGEDM which provides a unified application programming interface (API) for these models and the YT20 (Yamasaki & Totani, 2020) model of the Galactic halo. We use PyGEDM to compute all-sky maps of Galactic dispersion measure (DM) for YMW16 and NE2001, and compare the large-scale differences between the two. In general, YMW16 predicts higher DM values toward the Galactic anticentre. YMW16 predicts higher DMs at low Galactic latitudes, but NE2001 predicts higher DMs in most other directions. We identify lines of sight for which the models are most discrepant, using pulsars with independent distance measurements. YMW16 performs better on average than NE2001, but both models show significant outliers. We suggest that future campaigns to determine pulsar distances should focus on targets where the models show large discrepancies, so future models can use those measurements to better estimate distances along those line of sight. We also suggest that the Galactic halo should be considered as a component in future GEDMs, to avoid overestimating the Galactic DM contribution for extragalactic sources such as FRBs.