The Magnetic Fields of Millisecond Pulsars in Globular Clusters

Sushan Konar

Published 2010-07-08, updated 2010-11-16Version 2

Many of the characteristic properties of the millisecond pulsars found in globular clusters are markedly different from those in the Galactic disc. We find that one such physical parameter is the surface magnetic field strength. Even though the average spin-periods do not differ much the average surface magnetic field is 2-5 times larger in the globular cluster pulsars. This effect could be apparent, arising due to one or more of several biases. Alternatively, if future observations confirm this effect to be real, then this could be interpreted as a preferential recycling of pulsars in tight binaries where the mass transfer takes place at high accretion rates.