Radio pulsars and transients in the Galactic center

Radio pulsars and transients provide powerful probes of the star formation history, interstellar medium, and gravitational potential of the Galactic center. Historical radio observations of the Galactic center have not emphasized the time domain aspect of observing this region. We summarize a series of recent searches for and observations of radio transients and pulsars that make use of two advances in technology. The first is the formation of large fields of view ≥ 1°) at relatively longer wavelengths (λ > 1 m), and the second is the construction of receivers and instruments capable of collecting data on microsecond time scales at relatively short wavelengths (≈ 3cm).