Core and crust contributions in pulsar glitches: constraints from the slow rise of the largest glitch observed in the Crab pulsar

TL;DR

This paper models pulsar glitch dynamics to understand the microphysical interactions in neutron star interiors, using observations of the Crab pulsar's large glitches to constrain the mutual friction coefficient and infer the glitch origin.

Contribution

It introduces an analytical and numerical model linking glitch rise features to the mutual friction, providing constraints on the location of glitch-driving regions within neutron stars.

Findings

Crab glitches suggest a crustal origin due to smaller mutual friction coefficients.

Vela glitches imply an outer core contribution with higher mutual friction.

The model explains the slow rise and large amplitude of Crab glitches.

Abstract

Pulsar glitches are attributed to the sudden re-coupling of very weakly coupled large scale superfluid components in the neutron star interior. This process leads to rapid exchange of angular momentum and an increase in spin frequency. The transfer of angular momentum is regulated by a dissipative mutual friction, whose strength defines the spin-up timescale of a glitch. Hence, observations of glitch rises can be used to shed light on the dominant microphysical interactions at work in the high density interior of the star. We present a simple analytical model, complemented with more detailed numerical simulations, which produces a fast spin-up followed by a more gradual rise. Such features are observed in some large glitches of the Crab pulsar, including the largest recent glitch of 2017. We also use observations to constrain the mutual friction coefficient of the glitch-driving region for two possible locations: the inner crust and outer core of the star. We find that the features of Crab glitches require smaller values of the mutual friction coefficient than those needed to explain the much faster Vela spin-ups. This suggests a crustal origin for the former but an outer core contribution for the latter.