Radio luminosity of GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3: does it really exceed the spin-down power of the pulsar?

TL;DR

This study recalculates the radio luminosity of GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3 considering emission cone geometry and frequency dependence, showing its luminosity does not surpass the pulsar's spin-down power, challenging magnetar hypotheses.

Contribution

It provides a detailed analysis of the pulsar's radio luminosity accounting for emission geometry and revises the spin-down power, clarifying the luminosity's relation to the pulsar's energy budget.

Findings

Radio luminosity is below the spin-down power when considering geometry.

Frequency-dependent opening angles increase estimated luminosity.

The pulsar's radio efficiency does not support a magnetar interpretation.

Abstract

The recently discovered radio pulsar GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3 with an extremely long spin period was reported to have a radio luminosity that exceeds by orders of magnitude the spin-down power of the pulsar. In this Letter, we rigorously calculate the radio luminosity of the source taking into account the dependence of the opening angle of the pulsar-emission cone first on the spin period alone and then on both the spin parameters and the observing frequency. We also revise the value of the spin-down power reported previously. Our analysis is based on the description of the spectral data in terms of two power-law indices as well as a single power-law index. Even if the pulsar's opening angle is treated as a frequency-independent parameter in line with the usual assumption, the period dependence of this parameter implies relatively small opening angles and therefore radio luminosities well below the spin-down power. Although we estimate higher radio luminosities in the physically more plausible case of a frequency-dependent opening angle, the spin-down power is again not exceeded by the highest possible radio luminosity. The radio efficiency of GLEAM-X J162759.5-523504.3 can therefore not be used in favour of a magnetar hypothesis.