# Postglitch exponential relaxation of radio pulsars and magnetars in terms of vortex creep across flux tubes

## TL;DR

This paper models the exponential relaxation observed after glitches in neutron stars using vortex creep interactions with flux tubes, providing insights into their internal magnetic fields and cooling mechanisms.

## Contribution

It introduces a vortex creep model involving flux tube interactions to explain glitch relaxation timescales in neutron stars and magnetars.

## Key findings

- Model explains observed relaxation timescales
- Magnetar glitches suggest a cooler core
- Fast cooling mechanisms are necessary for magnetars

## Abstract

Timing observations of rapidly rotating neutron stars revealed a great number of glitches, observed both from canonical radio pulsars and magnetars. Among them, 76 glitches have shown exponential relaxation(s) with characteristic decay times ranging from several days to a few months, followed by a more gradual recovery. Glitches displaying exponential relaxation with single or multiple decay time constants are analysed in terms of a model based on the interaction of the vortex lines with the toroidal arrangement of flux tubes in the outer core of the neutron star. Model results agree with the observed timescales in general. Thus, the glitch phenomenon can be used to deduce valuable information about neutron star structure, in particular on the interior magnetic field configuration which is unaccessible from surface observations. One immediate conclusion is that the magnetar glitch data are best explained with a much cooler core and therefore require that direct Urca type fast cooling mechanisms should be effective for magnetars.