  An isolated pulsar is a rotating neutron star possessing a high magnetic
dipole moment that generally makes a finite angle with its rotation axis. As a
consequence, the emission of magnetic dipole radiation (MDR) continuously takes
away its rotational energy. This process leads to a time decreasing angular
velocity of the star that is usually quantified in terms of its braking index.
While this simple mechanism is indeed the main reason for the spin evolution of
isolated pulsars, it may not be the only cause of this effect. Most of young
isolated pulsars present braking index values that are consistently lower than
that given by the MDR model. Working in the weak field (Newtonian) limit, we
take in the present work a step forward in describing the evolution of such a
system by allowing the star's shape to wobble around an ellipsoidal
configuration as a backreaction effect produced by the MDR emission. It is
assumed that an internal damping of the oscillations occurs, thus introducing
another form of energy loss in the system, and this phenomenon may be related
to the deviation of the braking index from the pure MDR model predictions.
Numerical calculations suggest that the average braking index for typical
isolated pulsars can be thus simply explained.
