The very small braking index of PSR J1734-3333, n=0.9±0.2, challenges the current theories of braking mechanisms in pulsars. We present a possible interpretation that this pulsar is surrounded by a fall-back disk and braked by it. A modified braking torque is proposed based on the competition between the magnetic energy density of a pulsar and the kinetic energy density of a fall-back disk. With this torque, a self-similar disk can fit all the observed parameters of PSR J1734-3333 with natural initial parameters. In this regime, the star will evolve to the region having anomalous X-ray pulsars and soft gamma repeaters in the P−P˙ diagram in about 20000 years and stay there for a very long time. The mass of the disk around PSR J1734-3333 in our model is about 10M⊕, similar to the observed mass of the disk around AXP 4U 0142+61.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1211.4185,
title = {Braking PSR J1734-3333 with a possible fall-back disk},
author = {X. W. Liu and R. X. Xu and G. J. Qiao and J. L. Han and H. Tong},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1211.4185},
year = {2017}
}