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Abstract We use cyclic spectroscopy to perform high-frequency resolution analyses of multihour baseband Arecibo observations of the millisecond pulsar PSR B1937+21. This technique allows for the examination of scintillation features in far greater detail than is otherwise possible under most pulsar timing array observing setups. We measure scintillation bandwidths and timescales in each of eight subbands across a 200 MHz observing band in each observation. Through these measurements we obtain intra-epoch estimates of the frequency scalings for scintillation bandwidth and timescale. Thanks to our high-frequency resolution and the narrow scintles of this pulsar, we resolve scintillation arcs in the secondary spectra due to the increased Nyquist limit, which would not have been resolved at the same observing frequency with a traditional filterbank spectrum using NANOGrav’s current time and frequency resolutions, and the frequency-dependent evolution of scintillation arc features within individual observations. We observe the dimming of prominent arc features at higher frequencies, possibly due to a combination of decreasing flux density and the frequency dependence of the plasma refractive index of the interstellar medium. We also find agreement with arc curvature frequency dependence predicted by Stinebring et al. in some epochs. Thanks to the frequency-resolution improvement provided by cyclic spectroscopy, these results show strong promise for future such analyses with millisecond pulsars, particularly for pulsar timing arrays, where such techniques can allow for detailed studies of the interstellar medium in highly scattered pulsars without sacrificing the timing resolution that is crucial to their gravitational-wave detection efforts. 

Abstract We present observations and timing analyses of 68 millisecond pulsars (MSPs) comprising the 15 yr data set of the North American Nanohertz Observatory for Gravitational Waves (NANOGrav). NANOGrav is a pulsar timing array (PTA) experiment that is sensitive to low-frequency gravitational waves (GWs). This is NANOGrav’s fifth public data release, including both “narrowband” and “wideband” time-of-arrival (TOA) measurements and corresponding pulsar timing models. We have added 21 MSPs and extended our timing baselines by 3 yr, now spanning nearly 16 yr for some of our sources. The data were collected using the Arecibo Observatory, the Green Bank Telescope, and the Very Large Array between frequencies of 327 MHz and 3 GHz, with most sources observed approximately monthly. A number of notable methodological and procedural changes were made compared to our previous data sets. These improve the overall quality of the TOA data set and are part of the transition to new pulsar timing and PTA analysis software packages. For the first time, our data products are accompanied by a full suite of software to reproduce data reduction, analysis, and results. Our timing models include a variety of newly detected astrometric and binary pulsar parameters, including several significant improvements to pulsar mass constraints. We find that the time series of 23 pulsars contain detectable levels of red noise, 10 of which are new measurements. In this data set, we find evidence for a stochastic GW background.