THERMAL-TIMING INSTABILITY IN NEUTRON STARS

A thermal instability can occur in neutron stars, in which a significant burst of heat is generated in a short period of time. Accompanying this heat pulse is a change in the pulse repitition rate of the pulsar. A perturbation analysis of a simple model shows that the instability becomes easier to trigger as the star's initial temperature is reduced, and that once started it can grow very rapidly. The resulting time evolution of the pulsar angular velocity may resemble a period jump. © 1979 Nature Publishing Group.