A strong – correlation in radio pulsars with implications for torque variations

Abstract

Abstract We present an analysis of the spin-down parameters for 131 radio pulsars for which has been well determined. These pulsars have characteristic ages ranging from 103 to 108 yr and spin periods in the range 0.4-30 s; nearly equal numbers of pulsars have as have . We find a strong correlation of with , independent of the sign of. We suggest that this trend can be accounted for by small, stochastic deviations in the spin-down torque that are directly proportional (in magnitude) to the spin-down torque.