10.4225/08/521665B8189EB
Hobbs, George
George
Hobbs
CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility, Australia
Manchester, Dick
Dick
Manchester
CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility, Australia
Sarkissian, John
John
Sarkissian
CSIRO Australia Telescope National Facility, Australia
Bailes, Matthew
Matthew
Bailes
Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Bhat, Ramesh
Ramesh
Bhat
Curtin University, Australia
Jenet, Rick
Rick
Jenet
University of Texas, United States
Burke-Spolaor, Sarah
Sarah
Burke-Spolaor
West Virginia University, United States
van Straten, Willem
Willem
van Straten
Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
Yardley, Daniel Roger Billing
Daniel Roger Billing
Yardley
Australia Telescope National Facility, Australia
Oslowski, Stefan
Stefan
Oslowski
Swinburne University of Technology, Australia
Hotan, Aidan
Aidan
Hotan
Curtin University, Australia
Champion, David
David
Champion
Max Planck Inst. fuer Radioastronomie, Bonn, Germany
Parkes observations for project P456 semester 2010OCTS
CSIRO
2010
Dataset
2010
10.4225/08/521665b8189eb
The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project has three primary goals: (a) detection of gravitational waves from astronomical sources, (b) establishment of a pulsar timescale, and (c) improvement of our understanding of Solar-system dynamics. There are many secondary goals, some astrophysical and some instrumental/technique oriented. Achievement of these ambitious primary goals requires frequent observations of at least 20 MSPs at two or preferably three widely spaced frequencies over several years. We wish to continue observing the PPTA sample at intervals of 2-3 weeks using both the 10/50cm and Multibeam receivers. The digital filterbanks (PDFB3, PDFB4) and the baseband system (APSR) are used for data recording. With the new instruments and development of an efficient pipeline processing system, we have achieved the world's best pulsar timing precision, with four pulsars having rms residuals of less than or about 100 ns and 13 less than 1 microsecond. We are collaborating with the European and North American pulsar timing array groups (EPTA and NANOGrav, respectively) to obtain more frequent observations and a larger pulsar sample. Because of the high sensitivity and wide bandwidths required, RFI mitigation is an important part of the project.