| Affiliation: | 1.National Centre for Radio Astrophysics (Tata Institute of Fundamental Research),Pune,India;2.Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics,Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,Mumbai,India;3.The Institute of Mathematical Sciences,Taramani, Chennai,India;4.Astroparticle Physics and Cosmology Division,Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, HBNI,Kolkata,India;5.Department of Physics,Indian Institute of Technology,Hauz Khas, New Delhi,India;6.Department of Physics,Birla Institute of Technology and Science Pilani,Hyderabad,India;7.Department of Physics,Indian Institute of Technology Hyderabad,Kandi, Hyderabad,India;8.Cahill Centre for Astrophysics,California Institute of Technology,Pasadena,USA;9.Radio Astronomy Centre (NCRA-TIFR),Ooty,India;10.ASTRON, The Netherlands Institute for Radio Astronomy,Dwingeloo,The Netherlands;11.Mcgill Space Institute,McGill University,Montreal,Canada;12.Homi Bhabha National Institute Training School Complex,Mumbai,India;13.Department of Physics and Astronomy,West Virginia University,Morgantown,USA;14.Department of Nuclear and Atomic Physics,Tata Institute of Fundamental Research,Mumbai,India;15.Center for Gravitational Waves and Cosmology,West Virginia University,Morgantown,USA |
| Abstract: | Radio pulsars show remarkable clock-like stability, which make them useful astronomy tools in experiments to test equation of state of neutron stars and detecting gravitational waves using pulsar timing techniques. A brief review of relevant astrophysical experiments is provided in this paper highlighting the current state-of-the-art of these experiments. A program to monitor frequently glitching pulsars with Indian radio telescopes using high cadence observations is presented, with illustrations of glitches detected in this program, including the largest ever glitch in PSR B0531+21. An Indian initiative to discover sub-(mu )Hz gravitational waves, called Indian Pulsar Timing Array (InPTA), is also described briefly, where time-of-arrival uncertainties and post-fit residuals of the order of (mu )s are already achievable, comparable to other international pulsar timing array experiments. While timing the glitches and their recoveries are likely to provide constraints on the structure of neutron stars, InPTA will provide upper limits on sub-(mu )Hz gravitational waves apart from auxiliary pulsar science. Future directions for these experiments are outlined. |
