Probing the equation of state of ultradense matter with a submillisecond pulsar search experiment

Current ideas about the equation of state for the ultradense matter constituting neutron stars provide models with a range of neutron star radii for a given mass. This implies different estimates for the maximum angular velocity that such an object could attain. The fastest and the slowest angular velocity differ by a significant amount, depending on the equation of state adopted. In particular, the identification of a submillisecond pulsar would allow us to constrain the equation of state of dense matter. In this paper, we discuss a possible evolutionary scenario resulting in a submillisecond pulsar, taking into account current ideas about the evolution of the magnetic field of neutron stars. Pulsar luminosities and lifetimes in the submillisecond period range, derived on the basis of phenomenological considerations, suggest that the effort of searching for such an object would be worthwhile. All the pulsar searches conducted up to now have been prevented by instrumental selection effects from probing the submillisecond range. We discuss the feasibility of a submillisecond pulsar search experiment in the context of current hardware and software capabilities.