Wednesday, July 8, 2015

Unprecedented sudden 36% increase in spin down rate of pulsar B0540-69

This unusual behavior may teach us much about neutron stars.

I refer to Marshall Guillemot Harding Martin Smith 2015:
http://arxiv.org/abs/1506.05765

http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/bib_query?arXiv:1506.05765

29 references in the paper:
http://adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-ref_query?bibcode=2015arXiv150605765M&refs=REFERENCES&db_key=PRE

Abstract: "We report the discovery of a large, sudden, and persistent increase in the spin-down rate of B0540-69, a young pulsar in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using observations from the Swift and RXTE satellites. The relative increase in the spin-down rate of 36% is unprecedented for B0540-69. No accompanying change in the spin rate is seen, and no change is seen in the pulsed X-ray emission from B0540-69 following the change in the spin-down rate. Such large relative changes in the spin-down rate are seen in the recently discovered class of 'intermittent pulsars', and we compare the properties of B0540-69 to such pulsars. We consider possible changes in the magnetosphere of the pulsar that could cause such a large change in the spin-down rate."




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