General Physics Colloquium Wed. 17th September 15:15-16:00 Fys. Aud. 'Millisecond Pulsars: Multifaceted Astrophysical Laboratories' Thomas M. Tauris Universität Bonn / MPIfR Neutron stars are unique creations that allow for fundamental studies in many disciplines of physics. Those which interact with a companion star in a close binary system provide excellent astrophysical laboratories with which to probe and improve our understanding of stellar physics, supernova explosions, accretion processes and gravitational wave sources. Radio millisecond pulsars are of special interest since they are old neutron stars which have been spun-up to very high rotation frequencies via accretion of mass and angular momentum from a companion star. I will discuss the formation of millisecond pulsars and demonstrate that their properties, revealed from high-precision measurements, are fossil records of their past evolutionary history and therefore provide an excellent playground for theoretical modelling. Caption: An artist's impression of an accreting X-ray millisecond pulsar and its magnetosphere. [© NASA/Dana Berry] [http://phys.au.dk/uploads/RTEmagicC_PulsarCU0620.jpg.jpg] Wine and cheese will be served at 4 PM