Absolute time-of-arrival measurements of optical pulses from the Crab pulsar.

摘要: An attempt is made to understand the characteristics of pulsar slowdown in terms various possible emission mechanisms. Though magnetic-dipole radiation seems be dominant, deviations from a pure dipolar decay are large compared with errors measurement and indicate presence more complicated braking mechanisms, small fluctuations, major “jumps”, or period discontinuities. Some rapid-relaxation effect evident following discontinuous jump September 1969, but there no evidence quasi-sinusoidal behaviour reported before by Arecibo. alternative interpretation Arecibo data given.