X-ray Pulsation Searches with NICER

The Neutron Star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER) is an X-ray telescope with capabilities optimized for the study of the structure, dynamics, and energetics of neutron stars through high-precision timing of rotation- and accretion-powered pulsars in the 0.2-12 keV band. It has large collecting area (twice that of the XMM-Newton EPIC-pn camera), CCD-quality spectral resolution, and high-precision photon time tagging referenced to UTC through an onboard GPS receiver. NICER will begin its 18-month prime mission as an attached payload on the International Space Station around the end of 2016. I will describe the science planning for the pulsation search science working group, which is charged with searching for pulsations and studying flux modulation properties of pulsars and other neutron stars. A primary goal of our observations is to detect pulsations from new millisecond pulsars that will contribute to NICER’s studies of the neutron star equation of state through pulse profile modeling. Beyond that, our working group will search for pulsations in a range of source categories, including LMXBs, new X-ray transients that might be accreting millisecond pulsars, X-ray counterparts to unassociated Fermi LAT sources, gamma-ray binaries, isolated neutron stars, and ultra-luminous X-ray sources. I will survey our science plans and give an overview of our planned observations during NICER’s prime mission.