A glitch in the Crab pulsar (PSR B0531+21)
ATel #11625; Benjamin Shaw (University of Manchester), Andrew Lyne (University of Manchester), Cees Bassa (ASTRON), Rene Breton (University of Manchester), Christine Jordan (University of Manchester), Michael Keith (University of Manchester), Mitchell B. Mickaliger (University of Manchester), Benjamin Stappers (University of Manchester), Patrick Weltevrede (University of Manchester)
on 9 May 2018; 13:08 UT
Credential Certification: Mitchell Mickaliger (mitchell.mickaliger@manchester.ac.uk)
Subjects: Radio, Neutron Star, Pulsar
We have detected a glitch in the Crab pulsar, B0531+21, on 2018-04-29. The Crab pulsar is regularly monitored with the 42-ft and Lovell telescopes at the Jodrell Bank Observatory as part of the pulsar timing programme. Initial analysis shows a fractional rotational spin-up of dF0/F0 = (4.08+/-0.22)E-9 and a fractional change in spin-down rate dF1/F1 = (0.46+/-0.11)E-3 (1 sigma errors). This glitch occurred 176 days after the previous glitch, which we measured to be the largest glitch ever observed in the Crab pulsar (ATEL #10939). At the time of the most recent glitch, the Crab pulsar was still in the recovery phase from the previous glitch. While the Crab pulsar is observed twice per day for a total of 11 hours, this glitch occurred between two of our observations. We currently constrain the glitch epoch to be MJD 58237.357+/-0.005. We are continuing to monitor this source, but follow-up observations are encouraged in order to help refine the glitch characteristics and also to identify any radiative effects seen at other wavelengths.
