An application of pulsar timing in dynamic reference frame transformation of solar system

Abstract

AbstractThe establishment of pulsar space–time reference frame is of great significance for X‐ray pulsar deep space navigation. To demonstrate that the pulsar parameters are accurate enough to be used as a spatial reference, the transformation parameters, that is, α, β, and γ, of different reference frames determined based on pulsar timing are shown and compared with that of the heliocentric coordinates of Earth‐Moon barycenter. The JPL ephemerides such as DE421, DE200 and INPOP series, are mainly selected for conversion parameter calculation. For the best‐determined parameter γ, the discrepancy between the two different data is 0.38 mas/1.33σ. The timing positions of pulsars clearly show the frame‐tie of different ephemerides, indicating that MSPs have the potential to be a candidate for constructing time–space standard. It is also found that the rotation angles change linearly with time, and PSR J0437 − 4715 plays a critical role in the fitting of α. By employing a few high‐quality MSPs, the transformation precision of the right ascension is evaluated to be on the order of sub‐milliarcsecond, which is an order of magnitude higher than that of the declination.