Pulsar skips: Understanding variations in the regular periods of rotating neutron stars

Abstract

Pulsars are spinning neutron stars with very regular periods. These pulsars have, however, had instances where they exhibit a change in their periods. Older theories have shown that older pulsars have a tendency to skip and speed up. Newer theories have been created, due to the discovery that younger X-ray pulsars exhibit the same skips. The older theories explain that the core of the pulsar is a superfluid with a differential rotation and the core will occasionally exhibit solid properties to catch the crust of the pulsar and speed it up. The newer quantum mechanical theory states that quantum particle packets, called the strange nuggets, slam into the side of the pulsar to add angular momentum to the pulsar and then release it later.