The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project has three primary goals: (a) detection of gravitational waves from astronomical sources, (b) establishment of a pulsar timescale, and (c) improvement of our understanding of Solar-system dynamics. We are now in an exciting regime where a signal detected in our (and other data sets) has the form expected for a gravitational wave background. We, along with the international community, are now working hard to either confirm or deny this result, and to determine the astrophysical origin of this signal. With this proposal, we aim to maintain our pre-eminent position in the field. This is a continuing proposal for which observations of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) will continue to improve bounds on ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves until they are detected with confidence. Continued Parkes observations will remain valuable at least until the first stage of the SKA is able to improve on our sensitivity and observing cadence. Even after the gravitational wave background is detected, continued observations will resolve the background origin and individual sources will be identified; advancing the nascent field of gravitational wave astronomy.

The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project has three primary goals: (a) detection of gravitational waves from astronomical sources, (b) establishment of a pulsar timescale, and (c) improvement of our understanding of Solar-system dynamics. We are now in an exciting regime where a signal detected in our (and other data sets) has the form expected for a gravitational wave background. We, along with the international community, are now working hard to either confirm or deny this result, and to determine the astrophysical origin of this signal. With this proposal, we aim to maintain our pre-eminent position in the field. This is a continuing proposal for which observations of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) will continue to improve bounds on ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves until they are detected with confidence. Continued Parkes observations will remain valuable at least until the first stage of the SKA is able to improve on our sensitivity and observing cadence. Even after the gravitational wave background is detected, continued observations will resolve the background origin and individual sources will be identified; advancing the nascent field of gravitational wave astronomy.

The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project has three primary goals: (a) detection of gravitational waves from astronomical sources, (b) establishment of a pulsar timescale, and (c) improvement of our understanding of Solar-system dynamics. We are now in an exciting regime where a signal detected in our (and other data sets) has the form expected for a gravitational wave background. We, along with the international community, are now working hard to either confirm or deny this result, and to determine the astrophysical origin of this signal. With this proposal, we aim to maintain our pre-eminent position in the field. This is a continuing proposal for which observations of millisecond pulsars (MSPs) will continue to improve bounds on ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves until they are detected with confidence. Continued Parkes observations will remain valuable at least until the first stage of the SKA is able to improve on our sensitivity and observing cadence. Even after the gravitational wave background is detected, continued observations will resolve the background origin and individual sources will be identified; advancing the nascent field of gravitational wave astronomy.

The Parkes Pulsar Timing Array (PPTA) project has three primary goals: (a) detection of gravitational waves from astronomical sources, (b) establishment of a pulsar timescale, and (c) improvement of our understanding of Solar-system dynamics. We are now in an exciting regime where a signal detected in our (and other data sets) has the form expected for a gravitational wave background. We are therefore now attempting to confirm, or deny, this exciting result. With this proposal we aim to maintain our pre-eminent position in the field. Unlike most observing proposals, this is a continuing proposal for which the observations will continue to improve bounds on ultra-low-frequency gravitational waves until they are finally detected. Continued Parkes observations will remain valuable at least until the first stage of the SKA is able to improve on our sensitivity and observing cadence. Even after the gravitational wave background is detected we will want to continue observations in support of the nascent field of gravitational wave astronomy!

We request time to observe 270 pulsars on a regular basis in order to achieve three main science goals. The first is to understand pulsars: how do they spin down and what disrupts this process, how and why their profiles vary with time, whether they precess or have planetary mass companions, in short all the things that make pulsar timing noisier than the perfect clock. Secondly we want to understand the interstellar medium of our Galaxy through repeated monitoring of dispersion measure, rotation measure and flux density variations in conjunction with scintillation parameters. Finally, we provide these data as a community service both to the high-energy community where we have strong collaborative links (particularly to Fermi) and to the radio pulsar astronomers generally through the CSIRO archive. The project is on-going since 2007, we are (co-)authors on 106 papers arising from the P574 data. The data have contributed to the PhD theses of students from Bordeaux, Manchester, Oxford, Stanford, and Swinburne. We are seeking long-term project status with a view to continuing the project into the SKA era.

We request time to observe 270 pulsars on a regular basis in order to achieve three main science goals. The first is to understand pulsars: how do they spin down and what disrupts this process, how and why their profiles vary with time, whether they precess or have planetary mass companions, in short all the things that make pulsar timing noisier than the perfect clock. Secondly we want to understand the interstellar medium of our Galaxy through repeated monitoring of dispersion measure, rotation measure and flux density variations in conjunction with scintillation parameters. Finally, we provide these data as a community service both to the high-energy community where we have strong collaborative links (particularly to Fermi) and to the radio pulsar astronomers generally through the CSIRO archive. The project is on-going since 2007, we are (co-)authors on 106 papers arising from the P574 data. The data have contributed to the PhD theses of students from Bordeaux, Manchester, Oxford, Stanford, and Swinburne. We are seeking long-term project status with a view to continuing the project into the SKA era.

We request time to observe 270 pulsars on a regular basis in order to achieve three main science goals. The first is to understand pulsars: how do they spin down and what disrupts this process, how and why their profiles vary with time, whether they precess or have planetary mass companions, in short all the things that make pulsar timing noisier than the perfect clock. Secondly we want to understand the interstellar medium of our Galaxy through repeated monitoring of dispersion measure, rotation measure and flux density variations in conjunction with scintillation parameters. Finally, we provide these data as a community service both to the high-energy community where we have strong collaborative links (particularly to Fermi) and to the radio pulsar astronomers generally through the CSIRO archive. The project is on-going since 2007, we are (co-)authors on 106 papers arising from the P574 data. The data have contributed to the PhD theses of students from Bordeaux, Manchester, Oxford, Stanford, and Swinburne. We are seeking long-term project status with a view to continuing the project into the SKA era.

We request time to observe 270 pulsars on a regular basis in order to achieve three main science goals. The first is to understand pulsars: how do they spin down and what disrupts this process, how and why their profiles vary with time, whether they precess or have planetary mass companions, in short all the things that make pulsar timing noisier than the perfect clock. Secondly we want to understand the interstellar medium of our Galaxy through repeated monitoring of dispersion measure, rotation measure and flux density variations in conjunction with scintillation parameters. Finally, we provide these data as a community service both to the high-energy community where we have strong collaborative links (particularly to Fermi) and to the radio pulsar astronomers generally through the CSIRO archive. The project is on-going since 2007, we are (co-)authors on 107 papers arising from the P574 data. The data have contributed to the PhD theses of students from Bordeaux, Manchester, Oxford, Stanford, and Swinburne. We are seeking long-term project status with a view to continuing the project into the SKA era.

We request time to observe 270 pulsars on a regular basis in order to achieve three main science goals. The first is to understand pulsars: how do they spin down and what disrupts this process, how and why their profiles vary with time, whether they precess or have planetary mass companions, in short all the things that make pulsar timing noisier than the perfect clock. Secondly we want to understand the interstellar medium of our Galaxy through repeated monitoring of dispersion measure, rotation measure and flux density variations in conjunction with scintillation parameters. Finally, we provide these data as a community service both to the high-energy community where we have strong collaborative links (particularly to Fermi) and to the radio pulsar astronomers generally through the CSIRO archive. The project is on-going since 2007, we are (co-)authors on 107 papers arising from the P574 data. The data have contributed to the PhD theses of students from Bordeaux, Manchester, Oxford, Stanford, and Swinburne. We are seeking long-term project status with a view to continuing the project into the SKA era.

We propose to continue the PULSE@Parkes project in which high school students from Australia and around the World use the Parkes radio telescope in a remote observing model to observe and analyse pulsar data. The data from some PULSE@Parkes observations are used to support the space missions, other observations supplement the P456 Pulsar Timing Array project and the remainder were chosen in order to make a detailed analysis of pulsar timing irregularities and intermittency.