In this symposium, I have been given the task of summarizing our current understanding of the evolutionary history of spin periods of the neutron stars that we now see as binary and millisecond pulsars, i.e., recycled pulsars. We believe that a newborn, fast-spinning neutron star (with a rather high magnetic field ∼1011–1013 G) in a binary system first operates as a spin-powered pulsar, subsequently as an accretion-powered pulsar when accretion begins after the pulsar has been spun down adequately, and finally as a spin-powered pulsar for the second time after having been recycled to become a very fast-rotating neutron star (with a rather low magnetic field ∼108–1011 G) (see Ghosh 1994a, b, hereafter G94a, b).
Creator’s records: The pre-history of single and binary neutron stars
