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The hotspot emission of accreting millisecond pulsars (AMPs) undergoesscattering in the accretion flow between the disk inner radius and the neutronstar surface. The scattering optical depth of the flow depends on the photonemission angle, which is a function of the pulse phase, and reaches its maximumwhen the hotspot is closest to the observer. At sufficiently large opticaldepths the observed pulse profile should develop a secondary minimum, the depthof which depends on the accretion rate and the emission geometry. Such a dipevolving with the accretion rate might explain the phase shift and pulseprofile evolution observed in AMPs during outbursts. Accounting for scatteringis important for accurate modeling of the AMP pulse profiles in order toimprove the accuracy of determination of the neutron star parameters, such astheir masses and radii. In this paper we present a simplified analytical modelfor the Thomson optical depth of the accretion funnel, and apply it tosimulating the pulse profiles. We show that scattering in the accretion funnelhas a significant effect on the pulse profiles at accretion rates of $\dot{M}\gtrsim 10^{-10}~{M}_\odot\, \mathrm{yr}^{-1}$. Our model predicts a gradualevolution of the pulse profile with the accretion rate that appears to beconsistent with the observations.

Effects of scattering in the accretion funnel on the pulse profiles of accreting millisecond pulsars