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spin-down

A Dictionary of Astronomy | 1997 | 456 words | Copyright

spin-down A phenomenon in which the rotation period of a pulsar, P, steadily lengthens as the pulsar loses energy with age. Observed spin-down rates, Ṗ, range from 10−12 s per second for the youngest pulsars down to 10−19 s per second for recycled pulsars. The quantity P/2Ṗ is known as the characteristic age or spin-down age of the pulsar, and is likely to represent an upper limit on the true age of the pulsar.

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