Evolution of Crab Pulsar: Magnetic Inclination Angle and Spin

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Auteurs principaux: Liu, Cong-Xing, Dong, Jian-Min
Format: Preprint
Publié: 2026
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author Liu, Cong-Xing
Dong, Jian-Min
author_facet Liu, Cong-Xing
Dong, Jian-Min
contents The well-observed Crab pulsar helps one to uncover the underlying knowledge about pulsar evolution. The routine evolution model simultaneously describes the spin-down caused by the magnetic dipole radiation (MDR) and gravitational wave radiation (GWR), damping of the free-body precession owing to the bulk viscosity, and GWR-induced quenching of the magnetic inclination angle $χ$. We explore the pulsar evolution based on this routine model supplemented with the effects of shear viscosity, r-mode, electromagnetic torque, and accretion, respectively, with the stellar thermal evolution as an important input. The impact of shear viscosity on radio-pulsar evolution is negligible, as it only slightly increases the magnetic inclination angle and promotes spin-down in magnetars. Under the observational limit for its saturation amplitude, the r-mode also turns out to be completely negligible. Yet, the electromagnetic torque (under certain conditions), along with the accretion based on our three-dimensional fallback disk accretion model, are all shown to suppress the growth of the magnetic inclination angle. When applied to the Crab pulsar, the routine model best reproduces the magnetic inclination angle $χ$, the spin period $P$, and the spin period derivative $\Dot{P}$ simultaneously, indicating the important role of bulk viscosity. The inclusion of the electromagnetic torque and accretion works even worse, suggesting these two factors perhaps are overestimated for Crab pulsar. Intriguingly, the calculated magnetic inclination angle derivative $\Dotχ$ is $(6.3\times 10^{-3} - 0.3)\, {\rm degree/century}$ with the routine model, also in agreement with the observed tiny $\Dotχ = 0.62\, {\rm degree/century}$.
format Preprint
id arxiv_https___arxiv_org_abs_2605_11425
institution arXiv
publishDate 2026
record_format arxiv
spellingShingle Evolution of Crab Pulsar: Magnetic Inclination Angle and Spin
Liu, Cong-Xing
Dong, Jian-Min
High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
The well-observed Crab pulsar helps one to uncover the underlying knowledge about pulsar evolution. The routine evolution model simultaneously describes the spin-down caused by the magnetic dipole radiation (MDR) and gravitational wave radiation (GWR), damping of the free-body precession owing to the bulk viscosity, and GWR-induced quenching of the magnetic inclination angle $χ$. We explore the pulsar evolution based on this routine model supplemented with the effects of shear viscosity, r-mode, electromagnetic torque, and accretion, respectively, with the stellar thermal evolution as an important input. The impact of shear viscosity on radio-pulsar evolution is negligible, as it only slightly increases the magnetic inclination angle and promotes spin-down in magnetars. Under the observational limit for its saturation amplitude, the r-mode also turns out to be completely negligible. Yet, the electromagnetic torque (under certain conditions), along with the accretion based on our three-dimensional fallback disk accretion model, are all shown to suppress the growth of the magnetic inclination angle. When applied to the Crab pulsar, the routine model best reproduces the magnetic inclination angle $χ$, the spin period $P$, and the spin period derivative $\Dot{P}$ simultaneously, indicating the important role of bulk viscosity. The inclusion of the electromagnetic torque and accretion works even worse, suggesting these two factors perhaps are overestimated for Crab pulsar. Intriguingly, the calculated magnetic inclination angle derivative $\Dotχ$ is $(6.3\times 10^{-3} - 0.3)\, {\rm degree/century}$ with the routine model, also in agreement with the observed tiny $\Dotχ = 0.62\, {\rm degree/century}$.
title Evolution of Crab Pulsar: Magnetic Inclination Angle and Spin
topic High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
url https://arxiv.org/abs/2605.11425