Identify the location, responsible components, and phenomenological diversity of pulsar glitches

Determine whether pulsar glitches originate predominantly in the crust, the core, or a mixed region; identify which stellar components are responsible for post-glitch recovery; and explain the observed diversity of glitch behavior across the pulsar population.

Background

The review surveys superfluid dynamics, vortex pinning and creep, and mutual friction as leading ingredients behind glitches and post-glitch relaxation, but highlights unresolved questions about where the angular-momentum reservoir resides and how different components couple on observable timescales.

Observations indicate wide variability in glitch sizes, recurrence, and recovery, suggesting multiple mechanisms or regions may be involved. The authors explicitly list these topics as major open problems.