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Researchers monitored four glitch events in pulsar PSR J2229+6114 using radio observations from CHIME and X-ray observations from NuSTAR and NICER telescopes. Unlike high-magnetic-field pulsars that exhibit magnetar-like X-ray outbursts after glitches, this pulsar showed no measurable changes in radio or X-ray emission during any of the four glitch events. These findings suggest that magnetar-like post-glitch behavior is primarily associated with pulsars having higher magnetic field strengths rather than being a universal phenomenon.
Why it matters
This research challenges the unified neutron star model that attempts to classify all neutron stars along a single magnetic field strength spectrum. The results help establish clearer boundaries between different classes of neutron stars and improve our understanding of how magnetic field strength influences pulsar behavior during glitch events.
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⚠️ Preprint – Noch nicht peer-reviewed
Dieser Artikel wurde noch nicht von unabhängigen Experten begutachtet. Die Ergebnisse sind vorläufig und sollten mit Vorsicht interpretiert werden.
Abstract: We present our first result from an ongoing pulsar glitch monitoring campaign at the Canadian Hydrogen Intensity Mapping Experiment (CHIME), in which we analyzed the radio and X-ray emission surrounding four glitches in PSR~J2229+6114. Using daily CHIME observations, we detected a glitch in PSR~J2229+6114 in near-real time and triggered an X-ray follow-up with the Nuclear Spectroscopic Telescope Array (NuSTAR) two days after the glitch. We identified three additional glitch events in archival CHIME/Pulsar observations that coincided with an independent X-ray observing campaign with the Neutron star Interior Composition Explorer (NICER).. Our data show there is no measurable change in the source’s X-ray and radio emission during the four glitch events, in stark contrast to the post-glitch activity in high-magnetic-field, rotation-powered pulsars (RPPs), which have been observed to exhibit magnetar-like X-ray outbursts immediately after large glitches. Those high-magnetic-field (high-$B$) RPPs are considered transitional objects between ordinary RPPs and magnetars, thereby leading to a unifying neutron star model in which the inferred dipolar surface magnetic field strength serves as a unifying parameter. However, such a model remains challenged, in part, by the lack of constraints near the low-$B$ end of the high-$B$ regime, and our result provides additional evidence that magnetar-like post-glitch activity is likely more common among high-$B$ RPPs.