Speaker
Description
Millisecond pulsars (MSPs) are old pulsars which have been spun-up to incredible rotation rates by the accretion of matter from an orbiting companion star. Their extreme properties and long-term stability make them valuable objects for a wide variety of fundamental astrophysics. In recent years, the rate of new MSP discoveries has increased dramatically, owing in large part to the "treasure trove" of pulsar-like sources detected within the LAT data. In fact, more than a quarter of all known MSPs were discovered in searches targeting unidentified Fermi-LAT sources. In this talk, I will describe the various contributions that Fermi has made to the MSP search effort, including the latest results from blind searches for gamma-ray pulsations from unknown pulsars. I will also discuss the prospects for future discoveries in these areas, and the implications of Fermi's observations for the Galactic MSP population.
