The Northern High Time Resolution Universe pulsar survey – I. Setup and initial discoveries

Scientists have discovered 15 new radio pulsars, including a rare millisecond pulsar with high eccentricity and a pulsar with a characteristic age of approximately 18,000 years, through the Northern High Time Resolution Universe (NHTRU) survey. This groundbreaking effort, conducted using the 100-meter Effelsberg radio telescope, marks the first comprehensive northern sky survey at high radio frequencies in two decades. The survey employs a novel 7-beam receiver system and advanced polyphase filterbank, enabling unprecedented sensitivity to millisecond pulsars and fast transients, particularly in dense galactic regions where previous surveys faced limitations due to dispersive smearing. By optimizing observation times based on Galactic latitude, the team has uncovered significant new astronomical data, including potential supernova remnant associations for one of the discovered pulsars.

Barr, E. D., Champion, D. J., Kramer, M., Eatough, R. P., Freire, P. C. C., Karuppusamy, R., Lee, K. J., Verbiest, J. P. W., Bassa, C. G., Lyne, A. G., Stappers, B., Lorimer, D. R., & Klein, B. (2013). The Northern High Time Resolution Universe pulsar survey – I. Setup and initial discoveries. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society, 435(3), 2234–2245. https://doi.org/10.1093/mnras/stt1440