Journal Club



08.02.2021

"Flickering of the Vela pulsar during its 2016 glitch"

Greg Ashton (Monash University)

The first pulse-to-pulse observations of a neutron star glitch in the Vela pulsar identified a null pulse hinting at the sudden disruption of the neutron star’s magnetosphere. The only physical model connecting the glitch and the null pulse relies on a starquake either triggering, or being triggered by, the glitch itself . Until now, this was the only null pulse identified from over 50 years of observing the Vela pulsar. We identify five other null-like pulses, that we term quasi-nulls, before and after the glitch, separated by hundreds of seconds. We verify that such nulls are not found in data away from the glitch. We speculate that the quasi-nulls are associated with foreshocks and aftershocks preceding and following the main quake, analogously with terrestrial quakes. This implies the energy reservoir built up between glitches is not released suddenly, but over a period of minutes to hours around the time of the glitch.


22.02.2021

"Glitches in gamma-ray pulsars and information on the neutron star internal dynamics"

Ebil Gügercinoğlu (Sabanci University)

The speaker will present an analysis of the timing solutions from the Fermi-LAT observations of gamma-ray pulsars PSR J0835−4510 (Vela), PSR J1023−5746, PSR J2111+4606 and PSR J2229+6114. In particular, PSR J1023−5746 is the most active pulsar and should be a target for frequently glitching Vela-like pulsars in future observations. By theoretical analysis of these glitches it is possible to obtain important information on the structure of neutron star, including moments of inertia of the superfluid regions participated in glitches and coupling time-scales between various stellar components.