The Thermal Response of a Pulsar Glitch: The Nonspherically Symmetric Case

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Abstract
We study the thermal evolution of a pulsar after a glitch in which the energy is released from a relatively compact region. A set of relativistic thermal transport and energy balance equations is used to study the thermal evolution, without making the assumption of spherical symmetry. We use an exact cooling model to solve this set of differential equations. Our results could differ significantly from those obtained under the assumption of spherical symmetry. Even for young pulsars with a hot core like the Vela pulsar, a detectable hot spot could be observed after a glitch if a large amount of energy is released in a small region close to the surface of the star. The results suggest that the intensity variation and the relative phases of hard X-ray emissions in different epochs may provide important information on the equation of state.