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In the absence of constraints from the binary companion or supernova remnant,the standard method for estimating pulsar ages is to infer an age from the rateof spin-down. While the generic spin-down age may give realistic estimates fornormal pulsars, it can fail for pulsars with very short periods. Details of thespin-up process during the low mass X-ray binary phase pose additionalconstraints on the period (P) and spin-down rates (Pdot) that may consequentlyaffect the age estimate. Here, we propose a new recipe to estimate millisecondpulsar (MSP) ages that parametrically incorporates constraints arising frombinary evolution and limiting physics. We show that the standard method can beimproved by this approach to achieve age estimates closer to the true agewhilst the standard spin-down age may over- or under-estimate the age of thepulsar by more than a factor of ~10 in the millisecond regime. We use thisapproach to analyze the population on a broader scale. For instance, in orderto understand the dominant energy loss mechanism after the onset of radioemission, we test for a range of plausible braking indices. We find that abraking index of n=3 is consistent with the observed MSP population. Wedemonstrate the existence and quantify the potential contributions of two mainsources of age corruption: the previously known "age bias" due to secularacceleration and "age contamination" driven by sub-Eddington progenitoraccretion rates. We explicitly show that descendants of LMXBs that haveaccreted at very low rates will exhibit ages that appear older than the age ofthe Galaxy. We further elaborate on this technique, the implications andpotential solutions it offers regarding MSP evolution, the underlying agedistribution and the post-accretion energy loss mechanism.

Millisecond Pulsar Ages: Implications of Binary Evolution and a Maximum Spin Limit