Parkes observations for project P860 semester 2016OCTS_BPSR_02

Brief description

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 88 pulsars from 93% of processed data. With data processing on-going, we expect that processing and data review should be complete by the end of the upcoming semester. Extrapolation and population synthesis shows that the Galactic plane survey should result in a further 15-20 discoveries.

The discovery of pulsars is just a first 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.

This follow-up timing project is necessary for identifying any 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 first 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.