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Science 28 April 2006:
Vol. 312. no. 5773, p. 496
DOI: 10.1126/science.312.5773.496b
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This Week in Science

Pulsars are spinning neutron stars with strong magnetic fields that generate radio beams that sweep across the sky. Why do some neutron stars emit radio waves but others do not? Kramer et al. (p. 549, published online 2 February; see the Perspective by van den Heuvel) found a pulsar, B193124, that looked normal for about 1 week but then suddenly switched off. It remained undetectable for 1 month before switching on again. These on-off cycles repeat. All pulsars spin more slowly as they lose energy, but B193124 spins down 50% faster when it is switched on. This behavior implicates particle currents and winds in pulsar deceleration, and allows the sizes of the currents to be measured.




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