2015ApJ...807L..27M

We report the discovery of a large, sudden, and persistent increase in the spin-down rate of B0540-69, a young pulsar in the Large Magellanic Cloud, using observations from the Swift and RXTE satellites. The relative increase in the spin-down rate of 36% is unprecedented for B0540-69. No accompanying change in the spin rate is seen, and no change is seen in the pulsed X-ray emission from B0540-69 following the change in the spin-down rate. Such large relative changes in the spin-down rate are seen in the recently discovered class of ''intermittent pulsars,'' and we compare the properties of B0540-69 to such pulsars. We consider possible changes in the magnetosphere of the pulsar that could cause such a large change in the spin-down rate.