The Crab Pulsar's Spin-Down Power Audited Against Its Nebula's Energy Accounts

This paper computes the energy, density and acceleration budgets of the Crab Nebula from a small set of adopted, published input values, using the relations stated in the Methods and a deposited script that reproduces every number. The timing parameters give a spin-down power of 4.58e+38 erg per second and a characteristic age of 1.25e+03 years, close to the true age of 970 years, the small offset being the expected consequence of a braking index below three. The surface dipole field is 3.78e+12 gauss and the rotational energy still stored in the star is 1.8e+49 erg, so the reservoir is far from exhausted even after a millennium of powering the nebula. The calculation is a computation from stated assumptions, not a measurement, and each headline result is reported together with the diagnostic that tests whether the assumed evolutionary phase applies to this object.