Superfluid vortex-mediated mutual friction in non-homogeneous neutron star interiors

TL;DR

This paper develops a kinetic model to compute mutual friction in neutron star interiors, considering vortex dynamics in non-homogeneous media, to better understand pulsar glitches and vortex depinning.

Contribution

It introduces a minimal two-dimensional vortex model incorporating pinning landscapes, comparing periodic and disordered scenarios to analyze mutual friction and depinning effects.

Findings

Mutual friction depends on vortex pinning landscape.

Disorder influences the depinning transition.

Model provides a framework for future neutron star vortex studies.

Abstract

Understanding the average motion of a multitude of superfluid vortices in the interior of a neutron star is a key ingredient for most theories of pulsar glitches. In this paper we propose a kinetic approach to compute the mutual friction force that is responsible for the momentum exchange between the normal and superfluid components in a neutron star, where the mutual friction is extracted from a suitable average over the motion of many vortex lines. As a first step towards a better modelling of the repinning and depinning processes of many vortex lines in a neutron star, we consider here only straight and non-interacting vortices: we adopt a minimal model for the dynamics of an ensemble of point vortices in two dimensions immersed in a non-homogeneous medium that acts as a pinning landscape. Since the degree of disorder in the inner crust or outer core of a neutron star is unknown, we compare the two possible scenarios of periodic and disordered pinscapes. This approach allows to extract the mutual friction between the superfluid and the normal component in the star when, in addition to the usual Magnus and drag forces acting on vortex lines, also a pinning force is at work. The effect of disorder on the depinning transition is also discussed.