What can the braking indices tell us about pulsars' nature?

Abstract

As a result of observational difficulties, braking indices of only six rotation-powered pulsars are obtained with certainty, all of which are remarkably smaller than the value ($n=3$) expected for pure magnetodipole radiation model. This is still a real fundamental question not being well answered after nearly forty years of the discovery of pulsar. The main problem is that we are shamefully not sure about the dominant mechanisms that result in pulsars' spin-down. Based on the previous works, the braking index is re-examined, with a conclusion of suggesting a constant gap potential drop for pulsars with magnetospheric activities. New constrains on model parameters from observed braking indices are presented.

10 pages, 4 figures, submitted to "Advances in Space Research" (Proceedings of COSPAR 2006)

References in corpus (7)

• The ATNF Pulsar Catalogue
• A periodically active pulsar giving insight into magnetospheric physics
• New Phase-coherent Measurements of Pulsar Braking Indices
• The superflares of soft Gamma-ray repeatres: giant quakes in solid quark stars?
• Why the braking indices of young pulsars are less than 3?
• The role of reconnection in the pulsar magnetosphere
• Radio pulsars as progenitors of AXPs and SGRs: magnetic field evolution through pulsar glitches

Cited by in corpus (8)

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• The impact of glitches on young pulsar rotational evolution
• The UTMOST pulsar timing programme II: Timing noise across the pulsar population
• Rotational evolution of the Crab pulsar in the wind braking model
• A Generalized Semi-Analytic Model for Magnetar-Driven Supernovae
• Inferring neutron star properties with continuous gravitational waves
• Observational Constraints on the Pulsar Wind Model: The Cases of Crab and Vela
• Pulsars as Fantastic Objects and Probes