A Crab Pulsar Energetics Check: From Spin-Down Power to Nebular Output
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This paper audits the Crab pulsar's energetics by comparing its dipole spin-down power with its nebula's luminosity and its characteristic age with the known historical age since 1054, using the measured braking index to size the departure from the dipole model and testing whether a torsion correction could account for it. The headline results are as follows. Spin-down power from the dipole formula: 4.46e+38 erg s-1; Ratio of spin-down power to the nebular bolometric luminosity: 4.46; Characteristic age of the Crab pulsar: 1.26e+03 yr; Difference between the characteristic age and the true age since 1054: 285 yr; Spin-down timescale at the present derivative: 2.51e+03 yr; Rotational energy remaining in the star: 1.77e+49 erg. All values are computed from the stated assumptions and published inputs; the study is simulated and computed, not measured.
Author: Aldred, William Alexander
Language: English
Subfield: Nuclear and High Energy Physics
Field: Physics and Astronomy
Domain: Physical Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7225807428
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