Glitches in Pulsars: Mysterious Jumps in Spin

ulsar glitches are sudden, unexpected increases in a pulsar’s rotation speed.
They were first noticed in the late 1960s when pulsars didn’t keep perfect time.
Glitches reveal that pulsars aren’t perfectly solid but have complex internal structures.
One explanation is that the pulsar’s superfluid interior transfers momentum to its crust.
Another theory suggests starquakes—crustal shifts under immense pressure—cause the jumps.
After a glitch, pulsars often slowly relax back toward their original spin rate.
Glitches provide rare clues about matter under conditions impossible to recreate on Earth.
The Vela Pulsar is famous for frequent, well-studied glitches.
Even a tiny glitch represents a massive energy release, enough to jolt entire stars.
Studying glitches helps scientists probe the hidden physics of neutron stars.