Fast Search Techniques for High Energy Pulsars

Modified versions of two "standard" pulsar search techniques are presented that allow large-scale searches for pulsations in long duration high-energy data sets using relatively modest amounts of computer time. For small numbers of photons (N_phot <~ 10^4), optimized brute-force epoch folding searches are preferred. For larger numbers of photons, advanced Fourier domain acceleration searches are used. Using these techniques, my collaborators and I have searched Chandra observations of the CasA supernova remnant (SNR) point source and the isolated neutron star RX J1856.5-3754 for pulsations, and confirmed the 65.6 ms pulsar in the 3C 58 SNR during a blind search of archival RXTE data.