The micro-glitch in PSR B1821-24 : A case for a strange pulsar?

Abstract

The single glitch observed in PSR B1821-24, a millisecond pulsar in M28, is unusual on two counts. First, the magnitude of this glitch is at least an order of magnitude smaller ($\Delta \nu /\nu \sim 10^{-11}$) than the smallest glitch observed to date. Secondly, all other glitching pulsars have strong magnetic fields with $B \gsim 10^{11} G$ and are young, whereas PSR B1821-24 is an old recycled pulsar with a field strength of $2.25\times 10^{9}G$. We have suggested earlier that some of the recycled pulsars could actually be strange quark stars. In this work we argue that the crustal properties of such a {\em strange} pulsar are just right to give rise to a glitch of this magnitude, explaining the scarcity of larger glitches in millisecond pulsars.

5 pages, 5 figures, uses LaTeX2e(mn2e.cls) and astrobib(mn2e.bst): text substantially modified, to be published in MNRAS

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