Recent glitches detected in the Crab pulsar

Abstract

From 2000 to 2010, monitoring of radio emission from the Crab pulsar at Xinjiang Observatory detected a total of nine glitches. The occurrence of glitches appears to be a random process as described by previous researches. A persistent change in pulse frequency and pulse frequency derivative after each glitch was found. There is no obvious correlation between glitch sizes and the time since last glitch. For these glitches $\Delta {\nu }_p$ and $\Delta {\dot{\nu }}_p$ span two orders of magnitude. The pulsar suffered the largest frequency jump ever seen on MJD 53067.1. The size of the glitch is $\sim$ 6.8 $\times 10^{-6}$ Hz, $\sim$ 3.5 times that of the glitch occured in 1989 glitch, with a very large permanent changes in frequency and pulse frequency derivative and followed by a decay with time constant $\sim$ 21 days. The braking index presents significant changes. We attribute this variation to a varying particle wind strength which may be caused by glitch activities. We discuss the properties of detected glitches in Crab pulsar and compare them with glitches in the Vela pulsar.

Accepted for publication in Astrophysics & Space Science

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