This article has been reviewed according to Science X's editorial process and policies. Editors have highlighted the following attributes while ensuring the content's credibility: Using more than 15 years of observations from the Parkes radio telescope, astronomers detected three rotational glitches in the pulsar PSR J1637−4642—a young neutron star that had shown no signs of glitches since its discovery. The three glitches included one that changed its rotation rate by nearly 3 parts per million.
Their paper was posted to the arXiv preprint server on Aug. 20. It has been accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal Letters. Neutron stars that rapidly spin, sending out regular pulses of radio signals, are called pulsars.
Some pulsars occasionally experience sudden increases in their rotation rate, known as glitches. Younger pulsars tend to exhibit this complex timing behavior often, which is why they are interesting to study. While the exact cause of glitches remains unknown, astronomers think a glitch is caused by a sudden transfer of angular momentum from the superfluid inside the star to its solid crust.
PSR J1637−4642 is a 41,000-year-old pulsar—extremely young by cosmic standards. It spins once every 154 milliseconds. Despite its young age and relatively high energy output, it remained "quiet" and had never shown glitches during roughly a decade of observations after its discovery.
In this study, a team of astronomers led by Zhaoyi Wang of Xiamen University examined this young pulsar. They analyzed 15.5 years of data collected with the Murriyang radio telescope between February 2009 and October 2024. Their analysis revealed three distinct glitches.
The first occurred around 2018 and was by far the strongest. The pulsar's rotation frequency suddenly increased by about 17.54 microhertz, corresponding to a fractional change of roughly 2.7 parts per million. The second glitch occurred about three years later and was smaller.
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