Parkes observations for project P860 semester 2015APRS_BPSR_05

This is a request for observing time for the initial follow-up of pulsar discoveries from the low-latitude Galactic plane section of the HTRU survey (P630). We have already discovered 60 pulsars from 50% of processed data. Extrapolation and population synthesis show that the Galactic plane survey will result in at least a further 60 discoveries. Currently, with data processing on-going employing all available computing resources, we expect about 15 new discoveries per semester.\r\n\r\nThe discovery of pulsars is just a ?rst step and interesting science can usually only be revealed when a follow-up timing campaign is carried out. One year of initial timing is the minimal timespan required to fully-characterise any newly-discovered pulsars, essential for deriving pulsar parameters such as the characteristic age, magnetic ?eld strength, spin-down rate, as well as to detect any unexpected behaviour of the pulsar which might result from emission instabilities.\r\n\r\nThis follow-up timing project is necessary for identifying any individual interesting pulsar systems discovered from the HTRU Galactic plane survey. Since all of the pulsars on the observing list here are followed-up for the ?rst time, they will produce completely new and exciting results. In addition, this timing project will enable a large-scale examination of the Galactic plane pulsar population, exploring the true boundaries of pulsar phase space. Given the large number of discoveries expected and the long integration length required, this dedicated follow-up timing campaign is vital for achieving our science goals.

本申请为HTRU巡天（HTRU Survey）银道面低纬度区域（P630）中已发现脉冲星（pulsar）的初始后续观测申请观测时长。我们已在50%的处理后数据中发现60颗脉冲星。通过外推法与种群合成（population synthesis）模拟可知，本次银道面巡天至少还将新增60颗脉冲星发现。当前我们正动用全部可用计算资源推进数据处理工作，预计每学期可新增约15颗脉冲星。

脉冲星发现仅为科研工作的第一步，唯有开展后续计时观测项目（timing campaign），方能揭示其蕴含的富有价值的科学内涵。对新发现脉冲星开展为期一年的初始计时观测，是完整表征其物理特性的最低时间要求，这对推导脉冲星特征年龄、磁场强度、自转减速率等关键参数，以及探测可能由辐射不稳定性引发的脉冲星异常行为均至关重要。

本后续计时项目对于甄别HTRU银道面巡天中发现的各类特色脉冲星系统不可或缺。由于本次观测清单中的所有脉冲星均为首次开展后续观测，本项目将产出全新且极具突破性的科研成果。此外，本计时项目可实现对银道面脉冲星种群的大规模普查，深入探索脉冲星相空间（phase space）的真实边界。鉴于预计发现的脉冲星数量庞大且所需积分时长较长，本次专属后续计时观测项目对达成既定科研目标至关重要。