title: Vortex Pinning and Dynamics in the Neutron Star Crust.
abstract: The nature of the interaction between superfluid vortices and the neutron star crust, conjectured by Anderson and Itoh in 1975 to be at the heart vortex creep and the cause of glitches, has been a long-standing question in astrophysics. Using a qualitatively new approach, we follow the dynamics as superfluid vortices move in response to the presence of "nuclei" (nuclear defects in the crust). The resulting motion is perpendicular to the force, similar to the motion of a spinning top when pushed. We show that nuclei repel vortices in the neutron star crust, and characterize the force per unit length of the vortex line as a function of the vortex element to the nucleus separation.
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, Warsaw University of Technology, Ulica Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, POLAND.|Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.
authors.forename: Gabriel
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wlazłowski
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, Warsaw University of Technology, Ulica Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, POLAND.
authors.forename: Kazuyuki
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Sekizawa
authors.affiliation: Faculty of Physics, Warsaw University of Technology, Ulica Koszykowa 75, 00-662 Warsaw, POLAND.|Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.
authors.forename: Piotr
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Magierski
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.
authors.forename: Aurel
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Bulgac
authors.affiliation: Department of Physics, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington 98195-1560, USA.|Department of Physics and Astronomy, Washington State University, Pullman, Washington 98164-2814, USA.
authors.forename: Michael McNeil
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Forbes