Can we see pulsars around Sgr A⋆? The latest searches with the Effelsberg telescope
- Radio pulsars in relativistic binary systems are unique tools to study the curved space-time around massive compact objects. The discovery of a pulsar closely orbiting the super-massive black hole at the centre of our Galaxy, Sgr A⋆, would provide a superb test-bed for gravitational physics. To date, the absence of any radio pulsar discoveries within a few arc minutes of Sgr A⋆ has been explained by one principal factor: extreme scattering of radio waves caused by inhomogeneities in the ionized component of the interstellar medium in the central 100 pc around Sgr A⋆. Scattering, which causes temporal broadening of pulses, can only be mitigated by observing at higher frequencies. Here we describe recent searches of the Galactic centre region performed at a frequency of 18.95 GHz with the Effelsberg radio telescope.
| Document Type: | Conference Object |
|---|---|
| Language: | English |
| Author: | R. P. Eatough, M. Kramer, B. Klein, R. Karuppusamy, D. J. Champion, P. C. C. Freire, N. Wex, K. Liu |
| Parent Title (English): | van Leeuwen (Ed.): Neutron Stars and Pulsars: Challenges and Opportunities after 80 years. Proceedings of the 291st Symposium of the International Astronomical Union, Beijing, China, 20-24 August 2012 |
| First Page: | 382 |
| Last Page: | 384 |
| ISBN: | 978-1-107-03380-1 |
| DOI: | https://doi.org/10.1017/S1743921312024209 |
| Publisher: | Cambridge University Press |
| Date of first publication: | 2013/03/20 |
| Keyword: | Pulsars; Sgr A⋆ |
| Departments, institutes and facilities: | Fachbereich Ingenieurwissenschaften und Kommunikation |
| Dewey Decimal Classification (DDC): | 5 Naturwissenschaften und Mathematik / 52 Astronomie / 520 Astronomie und zugeordnete Wissenschaften |
| Entry in this database: | 2015/10/09 |
