Abstract:
There are indications that less than 10/sup-3 of the spin-down energy of the millisecond pulsar PSR 1937+214 emerges as electromagnetic radiation. The implications of this result are discussed. The surface magnetic field would then be ≡10/sup7G, making the pulsar optically undetectable, and casting aspersions on the accretion disc spin-up neutron star models for the pulsar. The pulsar should have an equatorial ellipticity ɛ ≡ 10/sup-9, which can be accounted for if the equatorial magnetic field departs from axisymmetry by one part in 10/sup3.
