Radio Millisecond pulsars

TL;DR

Radio millisecond pulsars are highly stable cosmic clocks that serve as tools for gravitational wave detection, gravity testing, and studying extreme matter, with many yet to be discovered due to current survey limitations.

Contribution

This chapter reviews the current status of MSP surveys, their properties, and their applications in fundamental physics and astrophysics.

Findings

Less than 5% of Galactic MSPs discovered

Upcoming surveys expected to find many more MSPs

Timing of MSPs enables gravitational wave detection and gravity tests

Abstract

The extreme timing stability of radio millisecond pulsars (MSPs) combined with their exotic environment and evolutionary history makes them excellent laboratories to probe matter in extreme condition. Population studies indicate that we have discovered less than five per cent of the MSPs of our Galaxy, implying that a huge majority of radio MSPs are waiting to be discovered with improved search techniques and more sensitive surveys. In this chapter, we provide an overview of the present status of ongoing and upcoming surveys for MSPs. Observed spectra, profile and polarisation properties of known radio MSPs are also summarised. Finally, we describe how the timing studies of radio MSPs enable a huge science return including attempts to detect gravitational waves using an array of MSPs, gravity tests using individual interesting MSP systems, as well as probing the intra-binary material using eclipses observed in MSPs in compact binary systems.