Parkes observations for project P778 semester 2011APRS

We request time for performing observations for a new deeper than ever search for millisecond pulsars in a subset of promising (as far as pulsar content) globular clusters in the southern sky. This search will exploit the new back-ends (APSR and DFB3/DFB4) now available at Parkes and will be complementary to the survey running at GBT (i.e. it will look at clusters outside the portion of sky suitable for deep GBT pointings). The discovery of millisecond pulsars in the selected sample of clusters (i) will lead to put unique constraints on the properties of the stellar systems which harbour them, (ii) will be complementary to the study of the gamma-ray emission from those clusters (performed by the Fermi satellite), (iii) can lead to the discovery of few eccentric massive millisecond pulsar binaries (the most promising targets for constraining the Equation of State of the nuclear matter) and (iv) might unveil the presence of exotic binaries whose formation is possible only in the dense stellar environment of a globular cluster.

我们申请观测机时，以开展一项史无前例的深度巡天，用于搜寻南天区域内一批具备优异脉冲星储量的球状星团候选样本中的毫秒脉冲星（millisecond pulsar）。本次巡天将依托帕克斯望远镜（Parkes）当前搭载的新型后端设备APSR与DFB3/DFB4，且将与绿岸望远镜（Green Bank Telescope, GBT）正在开展的巡天项目形成互补——即本巡天将覆盖绿岸望远镜无法开展深度观测指向的天区之外的星团。在选定的星团样本中发现毫秒脉冲星将带来多重核心科学价值：(i) 为孕育此类天体的恒星系统的物理属性提供独特的观测约束；(ii) 与费米卫星（Fermi）针对此类星团开展的伽马射线辐射研究形成互补；(iii) 有望发现少量大质量偏心轨道毫秒脉冲星双星系统——此类系统是约束核物质物态方程（Equation of State of nuclear matter）的最优候选目标；(iv) 或能揭示仅能在球状星团致密恒星环境中形成的奇异双星系统的存在。