PULSAR SURVEY · A state-of-the-art pulsar survey to aid gravitational wave detection efforts through pulsar timing

We propose to undertake the first state-of-the-art, all-sky survey for pulsars in the Northern sky since long. The main aim is to discover highly stable pulsars with milli-second periods, which can be used in a so-called pulsar timing array" to make the first direct detection of gravitational waves. The recent technological developments at the Effelsberg telescope near Bonn (Germany) are expected to make the survey speed much higher and the sensitivity to the most rapidly rotating pulsars far better than any previous all-sky survey undertaken in the North. The expected discoveries will boost pulsar research in Europe and strengthen Europe's involvement in the global efforts at gravitational wave detection. Concurrently, we plan to optimise the observing strategy for the European pulsar timing array through multi-frequency investigations of the current source list and through optimisation of that source list with new discoveries."