Reply to comment on "Searching for Topological Defect Dark Matter via Nongravitational Signatures"

Abstract

In the comment of Avelino, Sousa and Lobo [arXiv:1506.06028], it is argued, by comparing the kinetic energy of a topological defect with the overall energy of a pulsar, that the origin of the pulsar glitch phenomenon due to the passage of networks of topological defects through pulsars is faced with serious difficulties. Here, we point out that topological defects may trigger pulsar glitches within traditional scenarios, such as vortex unpinning. If the energy transfer from a topological defect exceeds the activation energy for a single pinned vortex, this may lead to an avalanche of unpinning of vortices and consequently a pulsar glitch, and therefore the source of angular momentum and energy required for a glitch event is provided by the pulsar itself. Indeed, the activation energy for such a process can be very small (essentially zero compared with the observed increase in the pulsar's rotational kinetic energy at the onset of a glitch). The unpinning of a vortex by a topological defect may occur through the passage of the defect into the core of the pulsar.

2 pages

References in corpus (6)

• Models of Pulsar Glitches
• Searching for dark matter and variation of fundamental constants with laser and maser interferometry
• Enhanced effects of variation of the fundamental constants in laser interferometers and application to dark matter detection
• Searches for topological defect dark matter via non-gravitational signatures
• Two decades of pulsar timing of Vela
• Comment on "Searching for Topological Defect Dark Matter via Nongravitational Signatures"

Cited by in corpus (6)

• Enhanced effects of variation of the fundamental constants in laser interferometers and application to dark matter detection
• Ramsey-Bordé matter-wave interferometry for laser frequency stabilization at $10^{-16}$ frequency instability and below
• Material Size Dependence on Fundamental Constants
• Manifestations of dark matter and variations of fundamental constants in atoms and astrophysical phenomena
• Effects of Nontrivial Topology on Neutron Star Rotation and its Potential Observational Implications
• Searching for Scalar Dark Matter in Atoms and Astrophysical Phenomena: Variation of Fundamental Constants