Super-Giant Glitches and Quark Stars: Sources of Gamma Ray Bursts?

Abstract

When a spinning-down neutron star undergoes a phase transition that produces quark matter in its core, a Super-Giant Glitch of the order ${\Delta} \Omega/\Omega\sim 0.3$ occurs on time scales from 0.05 seconds to a few minutes. The energy released is about $10^{52}$ ergs and can account for Gamma Ray Bursts at cosmological distances. The estimated burst frequency, $10^{-6}$ per year per galaxy, is in very good agreement with observations. We also discuss the possibility of distinguishing these even ts from neutron star mergers by observing the different temporal behavior of gravitational waves.