Relationship between the nonstationary radio-luminosity variations of the Crab Nebula and the activity of its pulsar

Based on the half-century-long history of radio observations of the Crab Nebula, we investigate the evolution of its radio luminosity. We found a secular decrease in the radio luminosity; it has decreased by 9% since the discovery of the radio source in 1948. Apart from the secular decrease in the luminosity of the Crab Nebula, we identified two time intervals, 1981–1987 and 1992–1998, when radio bursts with energy release ～10⁴¹ erg took place. In these years, the spectral indices of the instantaneous spectra decreased significantly due to the increase in the flux densities at short (centimeter and millimeter) wavelengths. These events were preceded by sudden increases in the pulsar’s rotation rates, the largest of which, with an amplitude of ΔΩ/Ω = 3 × 10^?8, occurred in 1975 and 1989. We show that the magnetospheric instability mechanism that accompanies strong glitches can provide the energetics of the excess luminosity of the Nebula through the ejection of relativistic electrons with a total energy higher than 6 × 10⁴² erg from the pulsar’s magnetosphere.