Modeling pulsar time noise with long term power law decay modulated by short term oscillations of the magnetic fields of neutron stars

TL;DR

This paper presents a model for pulsar timing noise combining long-term magnetic field decay with short-term oscillations, aligning well with observed data and aiding gravitational wave detection.

Contribution

The model introduces a combined decay and oscillation framework for pulsar magnetic fields, improving understanding of timing noise and residuals.

Findings

Model matches observed timing noise properties.

Effective reduction of pulsar timing residuals.

Reproduces observed correlations and slow glitches.

Abstract

We model the evolution of the magnetic fields of neutron stars as consisting of a long term power-law decay modulated by short term small amplitude oscillations. Our model predictions on the timing noise $\ddot\nu$ of neutron stars agree well with the observed statistical properties and correlations of normal radio pulsars. Fitting the model predictions to the observed data, we found that their initial parameter implies their initial surface magnetic dipole magnetic field strength ~ 5E14 G at ~0.4 year old and that the oscillations have amplitude between E-8 to E-5 and period on the order of years. For individual pulsars our model can effectively reduce their timing residuals, thus offering the potential of more sensitive detections of gravitational waves with pulsar timing arrays. Finally our model can also re-produce their observed correlation and oscillations of the second derivative of spin frequency, as well as the "slow glitch" phenomenon.