Glitch recoveries in radio-pulsars and magnetars

TL;DR

This paper investigates the diverse behaviors of pulsar glitches, proposing that different unpinning regions and recoupling timescales of superfluid vortices explain the variety of observed glitch signatures, including those in Anomalous X-ray Pulsars.

Contribution

It introduces a unified model linking superfluid vortex unpinning regions and timescales to the diverse glitch recovery behaviors observed in pulsars and magnetars.

Findings

Different glitch signatures explained by unpinning regions and recoupling timescales.

The model accounts for peculiar glitch recoveries in Anomalous X-ray Pulsars.

Diverse post-glitch behaviors are consistent with superfluid vortex dynamics.

Abstract

Pulsar glitches are sudden increases in the spin frequency of an otherwise steadily spinning down neutron star. These events are thought to represent a direct probe of the dynamics of the superfluid interior of the star. However glitches can differ significantly from one another, not only in size and frequency, but also in the post-glitch response of the star. Some appear as simple steps in frequency, while others also display an increase in spin-down rate after the glitch. Others still show several exponentially relaxing components in the post-glitch recovery. We show that if glitches are indeed due to large scale unpinning of superfluid vortices, the different regions in which this occurs and respective timescales on which they recouple can lead to the various observed signatures. Furthermore we show that this framework naturally accounts for the peculiar relaxations of glitches in Anomalous X-ray Pulsars.