On the fractional glitch recoveries and pulsar spin properties

Abstract

Pulsar glitches are sudden jumps in the spin frequency of an otherwise steadily spinning down neutron star. A glitch, in many pulsars, is followed by a recovery phase in which the pulsars return fully or partially to the pre‐glitch state on a wide range of time scales. This paper statistically investigates the behavior of the glitch recovery parameter, Q, and its relationship with the pulsar rotational parameters. The Q for the different sub‐classes of the glitch sizes appear to arise from different distributions, suggesting a possible different path of recovery or interior dynamics for the recovery of glitches of different sizes. While the Q has moderate relation with characteristic age, rotational frequency, fractional moment of inertia, and coupling parameter, it shows a very weak correlation with spin‐down rate. The implications are discussed. Glitch and glitch recovery appear to have different underlying physics, but both point to some dynamical changes within the interior of the neutron star.