Low braking index of PSR J1734-3333: an interaction between fall-back disk and magnetic field?

TL;DR

This paper investigates how the interaction between a fall-back disk and the magnetic field of PSR J1734-3333 influences its unusually low braking index, suggesting disk interaction significantly affects pulsar spin-down.

Contribution

It introduces a model where fall-back disk interaction explains the low braking index and matches observed spin parameters of PSR J1734-3333 and other young pulsars.

Findings

Braking torque from disk interaction exceeds magnetic dipole radiation for periods > 0.1 s.

Simulation results align with observed braking index and period derivative for specific parameters.

Predicted X-ray luminosity is higher than observed, possibly due to disk instability.

Abstract

Recent timing observation reported that the radio pulsar PSR J1734 - 3333 with a rotating period $P=1.17~\rm s$ is slowing down with a period derivative $\dot{P}=2.28\times 10^{-12}\rm s\,s^{-1}$. Its derived braking index $n=0.9 \pm 0.2$ is the lowest value among young radio pulsars with the measured braking indices. In this Letter, we attempt to investigate the influence of the braking torque caused by the interaction between the fall-back disk and the strong magnetic field of the pulsar on the spin evolution of PSR J1734 - 3333. Analytical result show that this braking torque is obviously far more than that by magnetic dipole radiation for pulsars with spin period of $> 0.1$ s, and play an important role during the spin-down of the pulsars. Our simulated results indicate that, for some typical neutron star parameters, the braking index and the period derivative approximately in agreement with the measured value of PSR J1734 - 3333 if the material inflow rate in the fallback disk is $2 \times 10^{17} \rm g\,s^{-1}$. In addition, our scenario can account for the measured braking indices of four young pulsars. However, our predicted X-ray luminosity are 1 -2 order of magnitude higher than the observation. We proposed that this discrepancy may originate from the instability of fall-back disk.