What Millisecond Pulsars Can Tell Us About Matter In The Galaxy

Understand

I demonstrate that precision timing of millisecond pulsars possess the capabilities of detecting the gravitational effects of intervening galactic substructure.

• This analysis is applicable to all types of collapsed baryons including stars, planets, and MACHOs, as well as many types of dark matter, including primordial black holes, scalar miniclusters, and sufficiently dense clumps of cold dark matter.
• The physical signal is quantified and decomposed into observable and unobservable components; templates for the observable signals are also presented.
• Additionally, I calculate the expected changes in the observed period and period derivatives that will result from intervening matter.