Quantum vacuum influence on pulsars spindown evolution

Arnaud Dupays (1) , Carlo Rizzo (2) , Bignami Giovanni Fabrizio (3)

1 Théorie (LCAR)
2 LNCMI-T - Laboratoire national des champs magnétiques intenses - Toulouse
3 IUSS - Istituto Universitario di Studi Superiori

In this letter we show that Quantum Vacuum Friction (QVF) should play an important role in neutron star evolution. Taking into account this effect we show that magnetars could be understood as a natural evolution of standard pulsars. For the Crab pulsar, of which the characteristic age is known, we present the first completely coherent time evolution for its period and braking index. For this pulsar we also give the predicted value of the current first derivative of the braking index, providing a very important test to confirm QVF.

Domaines: Astrophysique stellaire et solaire [astro-ph.SR]; Astrophysique stellaire et solaire [astro-ph.SR]; Physique Quantique [quant-ph]

Arnaud Dupays, Carlo Rizzo, Bignami Giovanni Fabrizio. Quantum vacuum influence on pulsars spindown evolution. EPL - Europhysics Letters, 2012, 98 (4), pp.49001. ⟨10.1209/0295-5075/98/49001⟩. ⟨hal-00522696⟩