Pulsar Astrometry and Improved Terrestrial Clocks

Recent improvements in cesium and hydrogen terrestrial frequency standards have brought the frequency precision of International Atomic Time (TAI) to a value of 2.5E-15 s/s over an averaging time of a month. In this paper we illustrate the improvement graphically, and discuss the state of the art for frame ties between the radio, dynamical, and optical frames. In a larger paper, available via the World Wide Web, we illustrate the measured accuracy curves of the frequency standards, show their effect on the ensemble time scales, explain the reasons for the confusing array of available time scales, and discuss the inverse problem of using pulsar data to correct the terrestrial time scale.