Gravitational wave emission from rotating superfluid neutron stars

D. I. Jones

Published 2009-09-22, updated 2009-12-10Version 2

In this paper we investigate the effect of a pinned superfluid component on the gravitational wave emission of a steadily rotating deformed neutron star. We show that the superfluid pinning allows the possibility for there to be gravitational wave emission at both the stellar spin frequency $\Omega$ and its first harmonic, $2\Omega$. This contrasts with the conventional case where there is no pinned superfluidity, where either only the $2\Omega$ harmonic is present, or else the star undergoes precession, a feature which is not believed to be common in the known pulsar population. This work motivates the carrying out of gravitational wave searches where both the $\Omega$ and $2\Omega$ harmonics are searched for, even in targeted searches for waves from known pulsars which aren't observed to precess. Observation of such a two-component signal would provide evidence in favour of pinned superfluidity inside the star.