## Signs of magnetic accretion in young Be/X-ray pulsar SXP 1062

### Abstract

The spin behaviour of the neutron star in the newly discovered young Be/X-ray long-period pulsar SXP 1062 is discussed. The star is observed to rotate with the period of 1062s, and spin-down at the rate ~ - 2.6 \times 10^{-12} Hz s^{-1}. I show that all of the conventional accretion scenarios encounter major difficulties explaining the rapid spin-down of the pulsar. These difficulties can be, however, avoided within the magnetic accretion scenario in which the neutron star is assumed to accrete from a magnetized wind. The spin-down rate of the pulsar can be explained within this scenario provided the surface magnetic field of the neutron star is B_* ~ 4 \times 10^{13} G. I show that the age of the pulsar in this case lies in the rage (2-4) \times 10^4 yr, which is consistent with observations. The spin evolution of the pulsar is briefly discussed.Comment: accepted for publication in MNRA

Topics: Astrophysics - High Energy Astrophysical Phenomena
Publisher: 'Wiley'
Year: 2012
DOI identifier: 10.1111/j.1745-3933.2012.01285.x
OAI identifier: oai:arXiv.org:1205.5953

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