Energy in rotating neutron stars

Abstract

One of the problems in pulsar theory is the energy source. At the present time o~v one pulsar has been found in the optical region (NP 0531 in the Crab Nebula) whose total luminosity is of order ~I03~' erg sec -I. Such luminosity cannot be maintained for a period of a thousand years (the age of this pulsar} by the reserves of thermal energy, the residual nuclear energy, the energy of the magnetic field, or the energy of radial pulsations [i].