Development of a pulsar-based timescale

TL;DR

This paper introduces the first pulsar-based timescale with precision comparable to atomic timescales, enabling new ways to monitor and improve terrestrial time standards using pulsar observations.

Contribution

It develops an ensemble pulsar scale (EPS) from PPTA data, creating a novel pulsar-based timescale comparable to atomic timescales and capable of detecting fluctuations in atomic time standards.

Findings

EPS matches the precision of international atomic timescales

Successfully tracks known features affecting TAI

Identifies marginal differences between TT(PPTA11) and TT(BIPM11)

Abstract

Using observations of pulsars from the Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project we develop the first pulsar-based timescale that has a precision comparable to the uncertainties in international atomic timescales. Our ensemble of pulsars provides an Ensemble Pulsar Scale (EPS) analogous to the free atomic timescale Echelle Atomique Libre (EAL). The EPS can be used to detect fluctuations in atomic timescales and therefore can lead to a new realisation of Terrestrial Time, TT(PPTA11). We successfully follow features known to affect the frequency of the International Atomic Timescale (TAI) and we find marginally significant differences between TT(PPTA11) and TT(BIPM11). We discuss the various phenomena that lead to a correlated signal in the pulsar timing residuals and therefore limit the stability of the pulsar timescale.