Physical Society Colloquium
Interview for Faculty Position
Millisecond Pulsars in Globular Clusters:
Clocks in the
Maelstrom
Scott Ransom
Physics Department
McGill University
Globular clusters are known to contain large numbers of isolated and binary
millisecond pulsars (MSPs) per unit mass as compared to the Galactic disk.
These systems can be used as precision probes into the properties of the
interstellar medium, the cores of the globular clusters, and any stellar
companions of the pulsars themselves. Over the past 2 years, we have observed
almost 30 globular clusters using the recently upgraded Arecibo telescope and
the new Green Bank Telescope resulting in over 6 TB of data collected so far.
After searching approximately 40% of our data, we have discovered 9 new
millisecond pulsars, 8 of which are in binary systems, and 3 of which are
observed to eclipse. One of the binaries is almost certainly in a highly
relativistic orbit. We have been timing 5 of these systems for the past year
and can now begin to place interesting constraints on properties of the
pulsars, the globular clusters where they reside, and their binary
companions.
Friday, January 17th 2003, 15:30
Ernest Rutherford Physics Building, Keys Auditorium (room 112)
|