Since their discovery 30 years ago, pulsars have been understood to be neut
ron stars born rotating rapidly (similar to 10-100 ms). These neutron stars
are thought to be created in supernova explosions involving massive stars,
which give rise to expanding supernova remnants (SNRs). With over 220 Gala
ctic SNRs known and over 1200 radio pulsars detected, it is quite surprisin
g that few associations between the two populations have been identified wi
th any certainty. Here we report the discovery of a remarkable 0.8 s X-ray
pulsar, PSR J1846-0258, associated with the supernova remnant Kes 75. With
a characteristic age of only 723 yr, consistent with the age of Kes 75, PSR
J1846-0258 is the youngest pulsar yet discovered and is being rapidly spun
down by torques from a large magnetic dipole with a strength of similar or
equal to5 x 10(13) G, just above the so-called quantum critical field. PSR
J1846-0258 resides in this transitional regime where the magnetic field is
hypothesized to separate the regular pulsars from the so-called magnetars.
PSR J1846-0258 is evidently a rotation-powered pulsar like the Crab; howev
er, its period, spin-down rate, and spin-down energy-to-X-ray luminosity co
nversion efficiency are each an order of magnitude greater, likely the cons
equence of its extreme magnetic field.