A note on the cyclic evolution of the pulsar magnetosphere

TL;DR

This paper proposes that pulsar spindown torque undergoes cyclic evolution with a periodicity similar to the solar magnetic cycle, explaining observed anomalies in pulsar braking indices and their correlation with age.

Contribution

It introduces the idea that pulsar magnetospheres experience cyclic changes in spindown torque, linking these cycles to observed braking index anomalies and neutron star magnetic cycles.

Findings

Cyclic evolution of pulsar spindown torque explains anomalous braking indices.

The characteristic timescale of cycles ranges from 100 to 10,000 years.

Longest timescale is consistent with a neutron star magnetic cycle similar to the solar cycle.

Abstract

Positive and negative pulsar breaking indices suggest that some fraction of the pulsar spindown torque undergoes a cyclic evolution. The observed strong correlation of `anomalous' breaking indices with pulsar age implies that the characteristic periodicity timescale is in the range 100 to 10,000 years depending on the fraction of the spindown torque that undergoes cyclic evolution, 1 to 100% respectively. We argue that the longest variability timescale is consistent with a neutron star magnetic cycle similar to the solar cycle.