While we now know far more about their origins, the unusual pulses have led to plenty of far-fetched theories, including theThese heartbeats have usually appeared with, likely due to spinning neutron stars emitting short bursts of radiation like a cosmic lighthouse.
"More than half a century has passed since the discovery of neutron stars, but the mechanism of why glitches happen is not yet understood," said corresponding author and Hiroshima University professor Muneto Nitta in a recentScientists have previously proposed that "avalanches" of "superfluid vortices" — the highly volatile ingredients of neutron stars trying to reach equilibrium and kicking off a chain reaction of swirling matter — are behind these mysterious...
The team suggested the existence of two interacting types of superfluid that may explain the strange behavior. They found that their new model almost perfectly corresponds to the observed data.