HIGH-PRECISION TIMING OF THE MILLISECOND PULSAR-1937+21 BY AUTOCORRELATION OF VLBI DATA

We present pulsar timing results obtained with a new technique that us es standard radioastronomy (VLBI) data recorded on magnetic tape. A sp ecial processing system, developed at the Centre National d'Etudes Spa tiales in Toulouse, is used to detect the pulsar signal and determine the time of arrival of the pulses. MarkII VLBI data on PSR1937+21 have provided the first timing of a millisecond pulsar at seven participat ing radio observatories. Data from the Effelsberg (Germany) station fo rm a consistent set of timing observations spanning five years with su b-microsecond measurement uncertainty. This technique offers interesti ng development prospects, including the possibility of detecting new p ulsars using sky survey data.