English

Superfluid Spin-down, with Random Unpinning of the Vortices

Astrophysics 2009-11-11 v1 Other Condensed Matter

Abstract

The so-called ``creeping'' motion of the pinned vortices in a rotating superfluid involves ``random unpinning'' and ``vortex motion'' as two physically separate processes. We argue that such a creeping motion of the vortices need not be (biased) in the direction of an existing radial Magnus force, nor should a constant microscopic radial velocity be assigned to the vortex motion, in contradiction with the basic assumptions of the ``vortex creep'' model. We point out internal inconsistencies in the predictions of this model which arise due to this unjustified foundation that ignores the role of the actual torque on the superfluid. The proper spin-down rate of a pinned superfluid is then calculated and turns out to be much less than that suggested in the vortex creep model, hence being of even less observational significance for its possible application in explaining the post-glitch relaxations of the radio pulsars.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.astro-ph/0504531,
  title  = {Superfluid Spin-down, with Random Unpinning of the Vortices},
  author = {M. Jahan-Miri},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/0504531},
  year   = {2009}
}

Comments

To be published in J. Low Temp. Phys., Vol. 139, May 2005 [Eqs 11, 15-17 here, have been revised and, may be substituted for the corresponding ones in that paper]