Pulsar timing and its applications

TL;DR

This paper reviews pulsar timing, highlighting its applications in testing gravitational theories, detecting gravitational waves, and establishing a pulsar-based timescale, emphasizing its importance in astrophysics and fundamental physics research.

Contribution

It provides a concise overview of pulsar properties and discusses recent applications of pulsar timing in gravitational physics and astrophysics.

Findings

Pulsar timing enables precise tests of gravitational theories.

Pulsar timing arrays are used to search for low-frequency gravitational waves.

Pulsar timing can establish a stable celestial timescale.

Abstract

Pulsars are remarkably precise "celestial clocks" that can be used to explore many different aspects of physics and astrophysics. In this article I give a brief summary of pulsar properties and describe some of the applications of pulsar timing, including tests of theories of gravitation, efforts to detect low-frequency gravitational waves using pulsar timing arrays and establishment a "pulsar timescale".