Comment on "Searching for Topological Defect Dark Matter via Nongravitational Signatures"

TL;DR

This paper critically evaluates a proposal that topological defect dark matter could cause pulsar glitches, highlighting significant theoretical and observational challenges to this idea.

Contribution

It provides a critical analysis showing that the hypothesis linking topological defect dark matter to pulsar glitches faces serious difficulties, regardless of defect properties.

Findings

The proposed mechanism is unlikely due to theoretical constraints.

Observational data do not support the defect-glitch connection.

The proposal faces fundamental challenges independent of defect details.

Abstract

In the letter by Stadnik and Flambaum [Phys. Rev. Lett. 113, 151301 (2014)] it is claimed that topological defects passing through pulsars could be responsible for the observed pulsar glitches. Here, we show that, independently of the detailed network dynamics and defect dimensionality, such proposal is faced with serious difficulties.