THERMALLY ACTIVATED POST-GLITCH RESPONSE OF THE NEUTRON STAR INNER CRUST AND CORE. I. THEORY

Pinning of superfluid vortices is predicted to prevail throughout much of a neutron star. Based on the idea of Alpar et al., I develop a description of the coupling between the solid and liquid components of a neutron star through thermally activated vortex slippage, and calculate the response to a...

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Published inThe Astrophysical journal Vol. 789; no. 2; pp. 1 - 18
Main Author Link, Bennett
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published United States 10.07.2014
Subjects
Activated
ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY
COUPLING
EQUATIONS OF MOTION
Fluid flow
Glitches
HYDRODYNAMICS
LIQUIDS
NEUTRON STARS
NEUTRONS
Pinning
PULSARS
Slippage
SPIN
SUPERFLUIDITY
TIME DELAY
VELOCITY
VORTICES
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Summary:Pinning of superfluid vortices is predicted to prevail throughout much of a neutron star. Based on the idea of Alpar et al., I develop a description of the coupling between the solid and liquid components of a neutron star through thermally activated vortex slippage, and calculate the response to a spin glitch. The activation energy for vortex slippage is obtained from a detailed study of the mechanics and energetics of vortex motion. The theory given here has a robust conclusion that can be tested by observations: for a glitch in the spin rate of magnitude [Delta]v, pinning introduces a delay in the post-glitch response time. Post-glitch response through thermal activation cannot occur more quickly than this timescale. Quicker components of post-glitch response, as have been observed in some pulsars, notably, the Vela pulsar, cannot be due to thermally activated vortex motion but must represent a different process, such as drag on vortices in regions where there is no pinning.
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ISSN:0004-637X
1538-4357
DOI:10.1088/0004-637X/789/2/141