2003/02/28 by Bennett Link · 4 citations
Earth and Planetary Sciences · Physics and Astronomy · #Astrophysics #Atomic and Subatomic Physics Research #Condensed matter physics #Geophysics and Gravity Measurements #Hadron #Neutron #Neutron star #Nuclear physics #Physics #Precession #Proton #Pulsar #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Spin (aerodynamics) #Superfluidity #Type (biology) #astro-ph #cond-mat.supr-con #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.91.101101
published as Phys.Rev.Lett.91:101101,2003 · 10 pages, 1 figure. New discussion of type I superconductivity. Typos corrected
arxiv created 2003/08/28 · openalex publication_date 2003/09/03 · arxiv updated 2016/08/30 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/05
I show that the standard picture of the neutron star core containing coexisting neutron and proton superfluids, with the proton component forming a type II superconductor threaded by flux tubes, is inconsistent with observations of long-period (approximately 1 yr) precession in isolated pulsars. I conclude that either the two superfluids coexist nowhere in the stellar core, or the core is a type I superconductor rather than type II. Either possibility would have interesting implications for neutron star cooling and theories of spin jumps (glitches).