On the slow-down of the millisecond pulsar PSR 1937+214

There are indications that less than 10^–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 10⁷ G, 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 10^–9, which can be accounted for if the equatorial magnetic field departs from axisymmetry by one part in 10³.