The Galactic Millisecond Pulsar Population

Duncan R. Lorimer

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The Galactic Millisecond Pulsar Population

Duncan R. Lorimer

Astrophysics of Galaxies · Submitted 9 Oct 2012

abstract compiled · 2026-09-23 · no language-model review

The authors' main claim I present a simple model of the population containing $\sim 30,000$ potentially observable millisecond pulsars with a luminosity function, radial distribution and scale height that matches the observed sample of objects.

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The paper's own sentences, arranged. Each label is drawn from a closed vocabulary; the number beside it is the probability the classifier gave that label. Numbers in the tables are the authors', checked by code. No sentence in this record was written by a model.

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Compiled by classifier-1.13-20260917 via OpenRouter, question bank abstract-p1-20260923, 2026-09-23: 1 request, 4,458 input tokens, $0.0002 reported.

What the abstract itself states, as probabilities: claims first 0.17 · states limitation 0.96 · human participants 0.02 · controlled comparison 0.17 · randomized assignment 0.01 · states quantitative result 0.98 · compares with prior results 0.71 · mentions code or data availability 0.02.

The abstract, sentence by sentence

arXiv listing abstract v1. Results and the main claim are underlined; show every role.

Among the current sample of over 2000 radio pulsars known primarily in the disk of our Galaxy, millisecond pulsars now number almost 200. Due to the phenomenal success of blind surveys of the Galactic field, and targeted searches of Fermi gamma-ray sources, for the first time in over a decade, Galactic millisecond pulsars now outnumber their counterparts in globular clusters! In this paper, I briefly review earlier results from studies of the Galactic millisecond pulsar population and present new constraints based on a sample of 60 millisecond pulsars discovered by 20 cm Parkes multibeam surveys. I present a simple model of the population containing $\sim 30,000$ potentially observable millisecond pulsars with a luminosity function, radial distribution and scale height that matches the observed sample of objects. This study represents only a first step towards a more complete understanding of the parent population of millisecond pulsars in the Galaxy and I conclude with some suggestions for further study in this area.

background contribution method result interpretation main claim

What the classifier reports for each sentence. The number is the probability it gave the label.
#	sentence	role	the authors' own work	states the main conclusion	strength
s0	Among the current sample of over 2000 radio pulsars known primarily in the disk of our Galaxy, millisecond pulsars now number almost 200.	background 0.99	0.17	0.04	asserted 1.00
s1	Due to the phenomenal success of blind surveys of the Galactic field, and targeted searches of Fermi gamma-ray sources, for the first time in over a decade, Galactic millisecond pulsars now outnumber their counterparts in globular clusters!	background 0.81	0.14	0.13	asserted 1.00
s2	In this paper, I briefly review earlier results from studies of the Galactic millisecond pulsar population and present new constraints based on a sample of 60 millisecond pulsars discovered by 20 cm Parkes multibeam surveys.	contribution 0.99	0.90	0.06	asserted 0.98
s3	I present a simple model of the population containing $\sim 30,000$ potentially observable millisecond pulsars with a luminosity function, radial distribution and scale height that matches the observed sample of objects.	result 0.61	0.85	0.43	asserted 0.89
s4	This study represents only a first step towards a more complete understanding of the parent population of millisecond pulsars in the Galaxy and I conclude with some suggestions for further study in this area.	future work 0.81	0.27	0.26	asserted 0.78

What kind of paper the classifier reports this is: empirical study 0.76 · evidence from analysis of existing data 0.62.

What was examined, and what was not

sources read

arXiv listing abstract v1

not examined

full text
figures and tables
references and citing sentences
relations to other papers

levels run

P abstract

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S sections
T body sentences
C citations
R cross-paper relations

Every quoted sentence on this record is the authors'. Every label is from Pith's closed vocabulary, with the probability shown beside it. Every number in the measurements table is the authors', checked by code. Record as JSON

The paper

Original abstract

Among the current sample of over 2000 radio pulsars known primarily in the disk of our Galaxy, millisecond pulsars now number almost 200. Due to the phenomenal success of blind surveys of the Galactic field, and targeted searches of Fermi gamma-ray sources, for the first time in over a decade, Galactic millisecond pulsars now outnumber their counterparts in globular clusters! In this paper, I briefly review earlier results from studies of the Galactic millisecond pulsar population and present new constraints based on a sample of 60 millisecond pulsars discovered by 20 cm Parkes multibeam surveys. I present a simple model of the population containing $\sim 30,000$ potentially observable millisecond pulsars with a luminosity function, radial distribution and scale height that matches the observed sample of objects. This study represents only a first step towards a more complete understanding of the parent population of millisecond pulsars in the Galaxy and I conclude with some suggestions for further study in this area.

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References

Forward citations

Cited by 4 Pith papers

Reviewed papers in the Pith corpus that reference this work. Sorted by Pith novelty score. Full citation record

Optimal Pulsar Timing Array Strategies with the Deep Synoptic Array
astro-ph.HE 2026-09 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

An ab initio 15-year pulsar timing array using the Deep Synoptic Array would be substantially more sensitive than current instruments, but optimizing per-pulsar observing time improves gravitational wave background se...
Gaia neutron stars: demographics, birth rates, and connections to other neutron star populations
astro-ph.SR 2026-09 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

Selection-corrected inference on the 27 Gaia neutron star candidates yields an intrinsic local density near 120 kpc^-3, a decreasing period distribution, and a forecast of 300 to 650 detections in Gaia DR4.
Primordial Black Holes and $r$-Process Nucleosynthesis
astro-ph.HE 2017-04 conditional novelty 6.0 of 10

Primordial black holes at a few percent of the dark matter could destroy millisecond pulsars and eject 0.1 to 0.5 solar masses of neutron-rich matter per event, enough to explain the r-process inventory of the Galaxy ...
The nature of the Diffuse Gamma-Ray Background
astro-ph.CO 2015-02 accept novelty 3.0 of 10

The review concludes that known astrophysical populations can plausibly account for most of the Fermi LAT diffuse gamma-ray background, leaving limited but not excluded room for a dark matter contribution.

How the literature uses it

13 arXiv papers cite this in 17 sentences

Each citing sentence is taken from the citing paper's LaTeX source and typed by Pith's classifier. A label appears at probability 0.8 or more (0.95 for support), a contest at 0.7 or more; the quoted words are the citing authors'. How each label was checked · JSON

Papers citing it · 9 sentences without a confident label

Uses its method or tool 1 paper

To estimate the number of MSP detections expected from the survey, we used model `A' of [ref] .

The Northern High Time Resolution Universe Pulsar Survey I: Setup and initial discoveries · Simulations · 0.90

Uses its data or values 5 papers

A sample of $∼9000$ pulsars from the SKA catalog in [ref] shows that among those pulsars, the shortest $b$ is about $10 ly ∼10^14 km$. $Δb$ is related to the scattering-broadening of images.

Memory effect from supernova neutrino shells · Memory effect in Pulsar Scintillation · 0.98
The upper limit for $σ_r$ was $10.0$, this was chosen as it is expected to be approximately $5$ kpc [ref] .

Consistency Between the Luminosity Function of Resolved Millisecond Pulsars and the Galactic Center Excess · Markov Chain Monte Carlo · 0.81
Current estimates place the total Galactic millisecond-pulsar population at approximately $3×10^5$ potentially observable objects [ref] , nearly six orders of magnitude below the lower-bound estimate of Eq. [ref].

Gravitational-Wave Sky Mapping with Pulsar Timing Arrays: The Full Earth-Pulsar Response and Resolution Operational Regimes · PTA Size Required to Reach the Transition Regime · 0.97

Cites it as support 1 paper

It is, therefore, reasonable to speculate that these sources can contribute significantly to the DGRB emission [ref] .

The nature of the Diffuse Gamma-Ray Background · Millisecond pulsars · 0.99

Cites it as background 1 paper

Usually completeness is implicitly assumed [ref] or characterized by simple metrics [ref] , when modeling the population.

Einstein@Home Discovery of 24 Pulsars in the Parkes Multi-beam Pulsar Survey · Discussion and Conclusions · 0.87

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