  Single pulses of pulsar radio emission are modeled as superposition of
radiation originating from many small subsources that are randomly distributed
in the emission region. The individual subsources are given an intrinsic finite
angular beaming. This model can produce fluctuations in intensity and pulse
profiles that are similar to the microstructure observed in some pulsars.
Statistics of the phase resolved flux density of a simulated single pulse can
be approximated by a lognormal distribution, which is in good agreement with
observations.

Astrophysics