Description
Timing neutron star systems is crucial to follow the evolution of binary and the interplay between
the two objects, test strong-field general relativity, and study the neutron star itself. Millisecond
pulsars in particular are ideal targets to probe the strong interaction at supranuclear densities
and search for continuous gravitational wave (CW) sources. I will review the main techniques
behind the efforts to find these pulsations across the EM spectrum, comparing their main use cases.
Moreover, I will describe our implementation of a semi-coherent algorithm paricularly suited for
binary systems for which standard blind searches would prove computationally unfeasible. I will
explain the main workflow of the technique and show our first results in its application to optical
data of one of the strongest candidates for CW emission, Scorpius X-1, using the fast photometer
SiFAP2 mounted at the TNG.