2015/12/31 by G. Howitt, George Howitt, B. Haskell +1 · 19 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Condensed matter physics #Glitch #High-pressure geophysics and materials #Inviscid flow #Mechanics #Neutron #Neutron star #Nuclear physics #Optics #Physics #Pulsar #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Spin (aerodynamics) #Spin-up #Superfluidity #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.SR #gr-qc
paper · pdf · doi:10.1093/mnras/stw1043
published in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 460(2), 1201-1213 (Oxford University Press) · Accepted for publication in MNRAS. 15 pages, 9 figures
openalex publication_date 2016/05/03 · arxiv created 2016/05/04 · arxiv updated 2016/05/25 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
Glitches are sudden jumps in the spin frequency of pulsars believed to originate in the superfluid interior of neutron stars. Superfluid flow in a model neutron star is simulated by solving the equations of motion of a two-component superfluid consisting of a viscous proton–electron plasma and an inviscid neutron condensate in a spherical Couette geometry. We examine the response of the model to glitches induced in three different ways: by instantaneous changes of the spin frequency of the inner and outer boundaries, and by instantaneous recoupling of the fluid components in the bulk. All simulations are performed with strong and weak mutual friction. It is found that the maximum size of a glitch originating in the bulk decreases as the mutual friction strengthens. It is also found that mutual friction determines the fraction of the frequency jump which is later recovered, a quantity known as the ‘healing parameter’. These behaviours may explain some of the diversity in observed glitch recoveries.