Modelling pulsar glitches: the hydrodynamics of superfluid vortex avalanches in neutron stars

TL;DR

This paper develops a mean field hydrodynamical model to simulate vortex dynamics in neutron star superfluids, capturing avalanche-like events that could explain pulsar glitches and anti-glitches.

Contribution

It introduces a novel mean field approach with vortex fraction dynamics to model large-scale superfluid vortex behavior in neutron stars.

Findings

Vortex accumulation causes propagating avalanches in superfluid models.

The model predicts glitch precursors and anti-glitches.

Linear rise components in glitch simulations emerge from vortex dynamics.

Abstract

The dynamics of quantised vorticity in neutron star interiors is at the heart of most pulsar glitch models. However, the large number of vortices (up to $\approx 10^{13}$) involved in a glitch and the huge disparity in scales between the femtometer scale of vortex cores and the kilometre scale of the star makes quantum dynamical simulations of the problem computationally intractable. In this paper we take a first step towards developing a mean field prescription to include the dynamics of vortices in large scale hydrodynamical simulations of superfluid neutron stars. We consider a one dimensional setup and show that vortex accumulation and differential rotation in the neutron superfluid lead to propagating waves, or `avalanches', as solutions for the equations of motion for the superfluid velocities. We introduce an additional variable, the fraction of free vortices, and test different prescriptions for its advection with the superfluid flow. We find that the new terms lead to solutions with a linear component in the rise of a glitch, and that, in specific setups, they can give rise to glitch precursors and even to decreases in frequency, or `anti-glitches'.