Colloquium: Tying glitch phenomenology to neutron star physics

© Danai Antonopoulou

Sudden rotational spin-ups, i.e. glitches, were observed shortly after the very discovery of pulsars. The connection of the phenomenon to the internal neutron superfluid in the crust and core of neutron stars, as well as the potential of glitches as a tool to probe dense matter physics was almost immediately realised. Whilst a complete model able to capture their diverse characteristics is still lacking, glitch theory has advanced greatly in the last decades, often in leaps guided by major observations such as the time resolution of Vela’s 2016 glitch. In this talk I will summarise the main observational features of glitches, the way these are connected to microphysics, and routes by which we can extract information for neutron star interiors.