Pulsar glitches due to triggered vortex traps
- 1Ashoka University Department of Physics, , Sonipat, 131029 ,
- 2Faculty of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Sabanci University , Orhanli, Tuzla, 34956, Istanbul ,
- 3School of Arts and Sciences, Qingdao Binhai University , Huangdao District, 266555, Qingdao ,
Abstract
Pulsar glitches are thought to originate when angular momentum is transferred to the crust of the neutron star from the superfluid enclosed within, mediated by vortex avalanches. This idea has been qualitatively validated in the existing literature by simulating a star with a small number (∼103) of superfluid vortices, subject to deceleration and uniform pinning. Here, we employ the Barnes-Hut approximation to simulate up to 105 vortices in a reasonable time. Using the new setup, we probe glitches that originate in the presence of inhomogeneous pinning. The inner crust of a neutron star is expected to crack as the star spins down, relieving stresses and resulting in rearrangements within the crustal lattice. These regions become centres for pinning with large pinning energies. Many such vortex traps are expected to exist in mature pulsars like Vela. We simulate one such star and find that the rise of the glitch is now staggered, a clear signature of the trap network. In young to middle-aged stars like PSR J0537-6910, we expect quakes which result in new traps and also unpin the vortices in existing ones. We observe that such a configuration involving the simultaneous release of several traps could introduce a bimodality in the glitch-size distribution, a feature that has previously been reported for PSR J0537-6910. Our simulations also indicate that macroscopic inhomogeneities in the distribution of vortices could spontaneously develop in a star with uniform pinning sites.
Related
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- A Vortex Avalanche Model for Pulsar Glitches
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- No Measurable Changes in Radio and X-ray Emission Surrounding Glitches in the Young Pulsar PSR J2229+6114
- Detecting seven new glitches in PSR J1341-6220 using six-year timing observations from the Parkes 64 m radio telescope
BibTeX
@article{anantharaman2026pulsar,
title = {{Pulsar glitches due to triggered vortex traps}},
author = {S V Anantharaman and Dipankar Bhattacharya and M Ali Alpar and Erbil Gügercinoğlu},
journal = {Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1093/mnras/stag2072},
url = {https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2072/9004847},
note = {CC BY 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Pulsar glitches due to triggered vortex traps
AU - S V Anantharaman
AU - Dipankar Bhattacharya
AU - M Ali Alpar
AU - Erbil Gügercinoğlu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/29
JO - Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
DO - 10.1093/mnras/stag2072
UR - https://academic.oup.com/mnras/advance-article/doi/10.1093/mnras/stag2072/9004847
AB - Pulsar glitches are thought to originate when angular momentum is transferred to the crust of the neutron star from the superfluid enclosed within, mediated by vortex avalanches. This idea has been qualitatively validated in the existing literature by simulating a star with a small number (∼103) of superfluid vortices, subject to deceleration and uniform pinning. Here, we employ the Barnes-Hut approximation to simulate up to 105 vortices in a reasonable time. Using the new setup, we probe glitches that originate in the presence of inhomogeneous pinning. The inner crust of a neutron star is expected to crack as the star spins down, relieving stresses and resulting in rearrangements within the crustal lattice. These regions become centres for pinning with large pinning energies. Many such vortex traps are expected to exist in mature pulsars like Vela. We simulate one such star and find that the rise of the glitch is now staggered, a clear signature of the trap network. In young to middle-aged stars like PSR J0537-6910, we expect quakes which result in new traps and also unpin the vortices in existing ones. We observe that such a configuration involving the simultaneous release of several traps could introduce a bimodality in the glitch-size distribution, a feature that has previously been reported for PSR J0537-6910. Our simulations also indicate that macroscopic inhomogeneities in the distribution of vortices could spontaneously develop in a star with uniform pinning sites.
SN - 0035-8711
SN - 1365-2966
ER -