  This paper proposes an alternative mechanism to solve the so-called missing
pulsar problem, a standing paradox between the theoretical expectations about
the number of pulsars that should exist in the galaxy center of the Milky Way
and their absence in the observations. The mechanism is based on the
transformation of incident $\gamma$ rays into hybridized modes, known as
axion-polaritons, which can exist inside highly magnetized quark stars with a
quark matter phase known as the magnetic dual chiral density wave phase. This
phase, which is favored over several other dense matter phases candidates at
densities a few times nuclear saturation density, has already passed several
important astrophysical tests. In the proposed mechanism, the absence of young
magnetars occurs because as electromagnetic waves inside the star can only
propagate through the hybridized modes, incident photons coming from a
$\gamma$-ray burst get transformed into massless and massive axion polaritons
by the Primakoff effect. Once thermalized, the massive axion-polaritons can
self-gravitate up to a situation where their total mass overpasses the
Chandrasekhar limit for these bosons, producing a mini blackhole that collapses
the star.
