2016/06/30 by Gabriel Wlazłowski, Kazuyuki Sekizawa, Piotr Magierski +2
Physics and Astronomy · #Astro and Planetary Science #Astrophysics #Condensed matter physics #Crust #Geophysics #Mechanics #Neutron star #Physics #Pulsars and Gravitational Waves Research #Quantum, superfluid, helium dynamics #Superfluidity #Vortex #astro-ph.HE #astro-ph.SR #cond-mat.supr-con #nucl-th
paper · pdf · doi:10.1103/physrevlett.117.232701
published as Phys. Rev. Lett. 117, 232701 (2016) · supplemental materials included
openalex publication_date 2016/11/30 · arxiv created 2016/12/01 · arxiv updated 2016/12/02 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/08/06
The nature of the interaction between superfluid vortices and the neutron star crust, conjectured by Anderson and Itoh in 1975 to be at the heart vortex creep and the cause of glitches, has been a long-standing question in astrophysics. Using a qualitatively new approach, we follow the dynamics as superfluid vortices move in response to the presence of "nuclei" (nuclear defects in the crust). The resulting motion is perpendicular to the force, similar to the motion of a spinning top when pushed. We show that nuclei repel vortices in the neutron star crust, and characterize the force per unit length of the vortex line as a function of the vortex element to the nucleus separation.