Long-term Statistics of Pulsar Glitches Due to History-dependent Avalanches

Stress accumulation-relaxation meta-models of pulsar glitches make precise, microphysics-agnostic predictions of long-term glitch statistics, which can be falsified by existing and future timing data. Previous meta-models assume that glitches are triggered by an avalanche process, e.g., involving superfluid vortices, and that the probability density function (PDF) of the avalanche sizes is history independent and specified exogenously. Here, a recipe is proposed to generate the avalanche sizes endogenously in a history-dependent manner, by tracking the thresholds of occupied vortex pinning sites as a function of time. Vortices unpin spasmodically from sites with thresholds below a global, time-dependent stress and repin at sites with thresholds above the global stress, imbuing the system with long-term memory. The meta-model predicts PDFs, auto-, and cross-correlations for glitch sizes and waiting times, which are provisionally inconsistent with current observations, unlike some previous meta-models (e.g., state-dependent Poisson process), whose predictions are consistent. The theoretical implications are intriguing, albeit uncertain, because history-dependent avalanches embody faithfully the popular, idealized understanding in the literature of how vortex unpinning operates as a driven, stochastic process. The meta-model predicts aftershocks, which occur with larger than average sizes and longer than average waiting times after the largest, system-resetting glitches. This prediction will be tested, once more data are generated by the next generation of pulsar timing campaigns.

Automated summary

This study introduces a new stress accumulation-relaxation meta-model for pulsar glitches, predicting glitch statistics through a history-dependent avalanche process. Unlike previous meta-models, the predictions of this model are inconsistent with current observations in terms of PDFs, auto-, and cross-correlations. The model also suggests the occurrence of aftershocks following large glitch events, which will be tested with future data from pulsar timing campaigns.