Absolute Time-of-arrival Measurements of Optical Pulses from the Crab Pulsar

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Abstract
An attempt is made to understand the characteristics of pulsar slowdown in terms of various possible emission mechanisms. Though magnetic-dipole radiation seems to be dominant, the deviations from a pure dipolar decay are large compared with errors in measurement and indicate the presence of more complicated braking mechanisms, small fluctuations, and major "jumps", or period discontinuities. Some rapid-relaxation effect is evident following the discontinuous jump in period in September 1969, but there is no evidence of the quasi-sinusoidal behaviour reported before the jump by Arecibo. An alternative interpretation of the Arecibo data is given.