Dr George Hobbs (ATNF)

The Ultimate in Clock Watching - Dr George Hobbs Colloquium

ATNF Marsfield Lecture Theatre

Abstract

We now have up to 35 years of timing observations for many hundreds of
pulsars. Pulsar timing allows us to extract interesting pulsar parameters
from these data. For example, new proper motions measurements have led to
PSR J0538+2817 being associated with the supernova remnant S147. With
many new measured variations in dispersion measure we are carrying out a
large-scale study of fluctuations in the interstellar medium. We also
study pulsar timing noise (noise-like fluctuations in a pulsar's
rotation rate) which is caused by an unknown process. This talk will
present an overview of the current status of pulsar timing, give some new
scientific results that have been obtained recently and will discuss the
role of pulsar timing in the detection of gravitional waves, improving
terrestrial time standards and improving the planetary ephemeris.