Observational Constraints on the Role of the Crust in the Post-glitch Relaxation

Abstract

The observed large rates of spinning down after glitches in some radio pulsars have been previously explained in terms of a long-term spin-up behavior of a superfluid part of the crust of neutron stars. We argue that the suggested mechanism is not viable; being inconsistent with the basic requirements for a superfluid spin-up, in addition to its quantitative disagreement with the data. Hence, the observed post-glitch relaxations may not be interpreted due only to the effects of the stellar crust.

To be published in New Astronomy