Ohmic field decay and the braking indices of pulsars

Abstract
It is shown that the surface dipolar magnetic field of a pulsar can vary on time-scales which are short compared to that for the longest living Ohmically decaying mode. The braking index can then deviate significantly from the value n = 3 and vary with time. Simple numerical examples are given where n < 3 for young pulsars in qualitative agreement with the observations of the Crab pulsar and PSR 1509 – 58.

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