The oldest radio pulsars form a relaxed population of stars oscillating in the Galactic gravitational
potential [113]. The scale height for such a population is at least , about 10 times that
of the massive stars which populate the Galactic plane. Since the typical ages of millisecond
pulsars are several Gyr or more, we expect, from our vantage point in the Galaxy, to be in the
middle of an essentially isotropic population of nearby sources. All-sky searches for millisecond
pulsars at high Galactic latitudes have been very effective in probing this population. Much
of the initial interest and excitement in this area began with the discovery of two recycled
pulsars at high latitudes with the
Arecibo telescope: the double neutron star binary
B1534+12 [343
] and the “planets pulsar” B1257+12 [346
]. Surveys carried out at Arecibo, Parkes, Jodrell
Bank and Green Bank (using the 140 ft telescope) by others in the 1990s (summarised in three
review papers [47, 50, 51]) have found many other millisecond and recycled pulsars in this
way.
Young pulsars are most likely to be found near to their places of birth, before they have had time for their
velocity to move them away, and hence they lie close to the Galactic plane (see Figure 6). This was the
target region of the main Parkes multibeam survey and has already resulted in the discovery of over 700
new pulsars [210, 221, 163, 123
, 94
], almost half the number currently known! Such a large haul
inevitably results in a number of interesting individual objects such as PSR J1141
6545, a
young pulsar in a relativistic
orbit around a white dwarf [154
, 241
, 25
, 127], PSR
J1740
3052, a young pulsar orbiting an
star (probably a main sequence B-star [295
, 296
]),
PSR 1638
4715, a young pulsar in a
-eccentric orbit (
) around around a
companion [193
], several intermediate-mass binary pulsars [54
], and two double neutron
star binaries [199
, 93
]. Although the main survey has now been completed, extensions of the
survey region, and re-analyses of existing data [94
] will ensure further discoveries in the near
future.
To probe more deeply into the population of millisecond and recycled pulsars than possible at high Galactic
latitudes, the Parkes multibeam system was also used to survey intermediate latitudes [92, 90].
Among the 69 new pulsars found in the survey, 8 are relatively distant recycled objects. Two
of the new recycled pulsars from this survey [90
] are mildly relativistic neutron star-white
dwarf binaries. An analysis of the full results from this survey should significantly improve
our knowledge on the Galaxy-wide population and birth-rate of millisecond pulsars. Arecibo
surveys at intermediate latitudes also continue to find new pulsars, such as the long-period
binaries J2016+1948 and J0407+1607 [234
, 190
], and the likely double neutron star system
J1829+2456 [62
].
Globular clusters have long been known to be breeding grounds for millisecond and binary pulsars [58]. The
main reason for this is the high stellar density and consequently high rate of stellar interaction in globular
clusters relative to most of the rest of the Galaxy. As a result, low-mass X-ray binaries are almost 10 times
more abundant in clusters than in the Galactic disk. In addition, exchange interactions between binary and
multiple systems in the cluster can result in the formation of exotic binary systems [283]. To date, searches
have revealed 103 pulsars in 24 globular clusters (see Table 5 and [230, 58]). Early highlights include
the double neutron star binary in M15 [257
] and a low-mass binary system with a
orbital period in 47 Tucanae [53
], one of 22 millisecond pulsars currently known in this cluster
alone [53
, 183
].
On-going surveys of clusters continue to yield new surprises [264, 77] including the discovery of the
most eccentric binary pulsar so far - J0514
4002 is a
pulsar in a highly eccentric (
)
binary system in the globular cluster NGC 1851 [100
]. The latest sensation, however, is the
discovery [266
, 233
] of 28 millisecond pulsars in Terzan 5 with the Green Bank Telescope [232
]. This
brings the total known in this cluster to 26. The spin periods and orbital parameters of the new
pulsars reveal that, as a population, they are significantly different to the pulsars of 47 Tucanae
which have periods in the range
[183
]. The spin periods of the new pulsars span
a much broader range (
) including the second and third shortest spin periods
of all pulsars currently known. The binary pulsars include two systems with eccentric orbits
and likely white dwarf companions. No such systems are known in 47 Tucanae. The difference
between the two pulsar populations may reflect the different evolutionary states and physical
conditions of the two clusters. In particular, the central stellar density of Terzan 5 is about twice
that of 47 Tucanae, suggesting that the increased rate of stellar interactions might disrupt the
recycling process for the neutron stars in some binary systems and induce larger eccentricities in
others.
Motivated by the successes at Parkes, a multibeam receiver has recently been installed at the Arecibo
telescope [227]. A preliminary survey using this instrument began in 2004 and has so far discovered 10
pulsars [229]. The main virtue of this survey is the shorter integration times employed and resulting higher
sensitivity to accelerated systems than the Parkes survey. Depending on the stamina of the observers, up to
1000 pulsars could be found in this survey over the next decade. Other surveys with the Green Bank
Telescope [232] and with the Giant Metre Wave Radio Telescope [231] are also expected to make major
contributions.
All surveys that have so far been conducted, or will be carried out in the next few years, are likely to be
surpassed by the Square Kilometre Array [132] - the next generation radio telescope, planned to come
online around 2020. Simulations suggest [162
] that at least
pulsars, including
millisecond
pulsars, could be detected in our Galaxy.
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