THE BRAKING INDEX OF PSR J1734-3333 AND THE MAGNETAR POPULATION
- Jodrell Bank Centre for Astrophysics, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester M13 9PL (United Kingdom)
- MPI fuer Radioastronomie, Auf dem Huegel 69, 53121 Bonn (Germany)
- Australia Telescope National Facility, CSIRO Astronomy and Space Science, Epping, NSW 1710 (Australia)
PSR J1734-3333 is a radio pulsar rotating with a period P = 1.17 s and slowing down with a period derivative P-dot =2.28x10{sup -12}, the third largest among rotation-powered pulsars. These properties are midway between those of normal rotation-powered pulsars and magnetars, two populations of neutron stars that are notably different in their emission properties. Here we report on the measurement of the second period derivative of the rotation of PSR J1734-3333 and calculate a braking index n = 0.9 {+-} 0.2. This value is well below 3, the value expected for an electromagnetic braking due to a constant magnetic dipole, and indicates that this pulsar may soon have the rotational properties of a magnetar. While there are several mechanisms that could lead to such a low braking index, we discuss this observation, together with the properties exhibited by some other high- P-dot rotation-powered pulsars, and interpret it as evidence of a possible evolutionary route for magnetars through a radio-pulsar phase, supporting a unified description of the two classes of the object.
- OSTI ID:
- 21565342
- Journal Information:
- Astrophysical Journal Letters, Vol. 741, Issue 1; Other Information: DOI: 10.1088/2041-8205/741/1/L13; ISSN 2041-8205
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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