Galactic Centre Pulsars with the SKAO
The detection of a pulsar closely orbiting our Galaxy’s supermassive black hole - Sagittarius A* - is one of the ultimate prizes in pulsar astrophysics. The relativistic effects expected in such a system could far exceed those currently observable in compact binaries such as double neutron stars and pulsar white dwarfs. In addition, pulsars offer the opportunity to study the magneto-ionic properties of Earth’s nearest galactic nucleus in unprecedented detail. For these reasons, and more, a multitude of pulsar searches of the Galactic Centre have been undertaken, with the outcome of just seven pulsar detections within a projected distance of 100 pc from Sagittarius A*. It is currently understood that a larger underlying population likely exists, but it is not until observations with the SKA have started that this population can be revealed. In this chapter, we look at important updates since the publication of the last SKA science book and offer a focused view of observing strategies and likely outcomes with the updated SKA design.
Authors
- Eva Hackmann (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7456-216X)
- J. M. Cordes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4049-1882)
- Joseph Lazio
- Weiwei Zhu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5105-4058)
- S. M. Ransom (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5799-9714)
- J. Wongphechauxsorn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7730-4956)
- Zexin Hu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3081-0659)
- Lijing Shao (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1334-8853)
- Amodio Carleo (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9929-2370)
- M. Kramer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4175-2271)
- G. Desvignes (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3922-4055)
- K. J. Lee
- Pablo Torné (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8700-6058)
- Shami Chatterjee (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2878-1502)
- Grit Saowanit
- Paul B. Demorest (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6664-965X)
- Federico Abbate (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9791-7661)
- Kuo Liu (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2953-7376)
- Ralph P. Eatough (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6196-4135)
- I. Rammala (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0224-6579)
- Robert Wharton (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7416-5209)
Institutions
- California Institute of Technology (US)
- Planetary Science Institute (US)
- University of Bremen (DE)
- Kasetsart University (TH)
- Chinese Academy of Sciences (CN)
- Peking University (CN)
- Cornell University (US)
- Beijing Normal University (CN)
- University of Würzburg (DE)
- National Radio Astronomy Observatory (US)
- Institut de Radioastronomie Millimétrique (FR)
- Astronomy and Space (AU)
- Osservatorio Astronomico di Cagliari (IT)
- Max Planck Institute for Radio Astronomy (DE)
Publication Details
- Journal
- The Open Journal of Astrophysics
- Published
- 2025-12-19
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.33232/001c.154252
- Primary Topic
- Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00