Publication Date:
2006-02-25
Description:
PSR B1931+24 (J1933+2421) behaves as an ordinary isolated radio pulsar during active phases that are 5 to 10 days long. However, when the radio emission ceases, it switches off in less than 10 seconds and remains undetectable for the next 25 to 35 days, then switches on again. This pattern repeats quasi-periodically. The origin of this behavior is unclear. Even more remarkably, the pulsar rotation slows down 50% faster when it is on than when it is off. This indicates a massive increase in magnetospheric currents when the pulsar switches on, proving that pulsar wind plays a substantial role in pulsar spin-down. This allows us, for the first time, to estimate the magnetospheric currents in a pulsar magnetosphere during the occurrence of radio emission.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Notes: 〈/span〉Kramer, M -- Lyne, A G -- O'Brien, J T -- Jordan, C A -- Lorimer, D R -- New York, N.Y. -- Science. 2006 Apr 28;312(5773):549-51. Epub 2006 Feb 23.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Author address: 〈/span〉Jodrell Bank Observatory, University of Manchester, Macclesfield, SK11 9DL, UK.〈br /〉〈span class="detail_caption"〉Record origin:〈/span〉 〈a href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16497886" target="_blank"〉PubMed〈/a〉
Print ISSN:
0036-8075
Electronic ISSN:
1095-9203
Topics:
Biology
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Chemistry and Pharmacology
,
Computer Science
,
Medicine
,
Natural Sciences in General
,
Physics
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