Neutron starquakes

Details Neutron starquakes Neutron starquakes

Dec 1999

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1999aipc..499...75f&link_type=abstract

Small missions for energetic astrophysics. AIP Conference Proceedings, Volume 499, pp. 75-81 (1999).

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astrophysics

Pulsations, Oscillations, And Stellar Seismology, Neutron Stars

Scientific paper

The Crab and other pulsars suffer sudden and permanent increases in their spin-down rates, suggesting that the torques upon them grow in steps. Torque changes could come about as a consequence of starquakes occurring as the star spins down and its rigid crust becomes less oblate. We study the evolution of strain in the crust, the initiation of starquakes, the effects on the magnetic field structure and the observable consequences for neutron star spin down. We find that the stellar crust begins breaking at the rotational equator, forming a fault along which matter flows to reduce the equatorial circumference. Magnetic stresses favor fault lines inclined at an angle to the equator and directed toward the magnetic poles. The resulting asymmetric matter redistribution produces a misalignment of the angular momentum and spin axes. Subsequently, damped precession to a new rotational state increases the angle between rotation and magnetic axes. The change in this angle could increase the external torque, producing a permanent increase in the spin-down rate.

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