# Rotational evolution of the Vela pulsar during the 2016 glitch

## TL;DR

This paper analyzes the 2016 Vela pulsar glitch, providing new constraints on the glitch rise time, evidence for a rotational overshoot and pre-glitch slow-down, offering insights into neutron star interior physics.

## Contribution

It presents the first pulse-to-pulse analysis of a pulsar glitch, constrains the glitch rise time, and provides evidence for a rotational overshoot and pre-glitch slow-down.

## Key findings

- Glitch rise time constrained to less than 12.6 seconds.
- Evidence for a rotational-frequency overshoot and rapid relaxation.
- Detection of a slow-down of the pulsar before the glitch.

## Abstract

The 2016 Vela glitch observed by the Mt Pleasant radio telescope provides the first opportunity to study pulse-to-pulse dynamics of a pulsar glitch, opening up new possibilities to study the neutron star's interior. We fit models of the star's rotation frequency to the pulsar data, and present three new results. First, we constrain the glitch rise time to less than 12.6s with 90% confidence, almost three times shorter than the previous best constraint. Second, we find definitive evidence for a rotational-frequency overshoot and fast relaxation following the glitch. Third, we find evidence for a slow-down of the star's rotation immediately prior to the glitch. The overshoot is predicted theoretically by some models; we discuss implications of the glitch rise and overshoot decay times on internal neutron-star physics. The slow down preceding the glitch is unexpected; we propose the slow-down may trigger the glitch by causing a critical lag between crustal superfluid and the crust.