Astronomers detect three glitches in pulsar PSR J1637‑4642 over 15 years

Astronomers using more than 15 years of data from the Parkes radio telescope have identified three rotational glitches in the young neutron star PSR J1637‑4642, a pulsar that had shown no glitch activity since its discovery. The timing irregularities, detected through long‑term monitoring, include a particularly large event that altered the star’s spin frequency by almost three parts per million, a magnitude rarely observed in such youthful objects.

The findings were detailed in a manuscript posted to the arXiv preprint server on 20 August and have subsequently been accepted for publication in *The Astrophysical Journal Letters*. The study provides new insight into the internal dynamics of neutron stars and expands the sample of glitching pulsars, offering a valuable benchmark for theoretical models of stellar crust and superfluid behavior.