GBT01A-069

A Galactic Bulge Globular Cluster Pulsar Search

Abstract

The search for and study of pulsars in globular clusters is an exciting area of stellar astrophysics. The vast numbers of pulsars implied by the current population of known cluster pulsars was certainly not expected. See reviews by Lyne (in Fruchter et al. 1995) and by Kulkarni & Anderson (1996) for a recent summary of the observational situation. Cluster pulsars have shed some light on the massive star content of clusters (from which the pulsars originated) and have provided us with new and unique diagnostics of: [1] clusters and galactic interstellar medium; [2] formation and evolution of tidal binaries; and [3] distribution of matter in the cores of clusters. Here we request telescope time to extend our fruitful study of globular cluster pulsars to search 8 dense galactic bulge clusters with recently developed instrumentation to increase our knowledge of this important stellar population. The exotic binary systems formed in the dense cores of globular clusters are rich with possibilities for exciting new discoveries, e.g., the detection of a single sub-millisecond pulsar with its constraint on equations of state for nuclear density matter, or an additional double neutron star systems with its implications for source event rates for upcoming gravitational wave experiments are both significant possibilities.

Front Ends

Prime Focus 1-3  6(0.51 to 0.69 GHz)
Gregorian L(1.15 to 1.73 GHz)

Back Ends

Berkley Caltech Pulsar Machine

Type of Observing

Point Source
Continuum
Pulsar
High Time Resolution

Switching Type

Created: Fri May 31 15:39:14 Eastern Daylight Time 2002