Instability of superfluid flow in the neutron star core

Abstract

Pinning of superfluid vortices to magnetic flux tubes in the outer core of a neutron star supports a velocity difference of $\sim 10^5$ \cms\ between the neutron superfluid and the proton-electron fluid as the star spins down. Under the Magnus force that arises on the vortex array, vortices undergo {\em vortex creep} through thermal activation or quantum tunneling. We examine the hydrodynamic stability of this situation. Vortex creep introduces two low-frequency modes, one of which is unstable above a critical wavenumber for any non-zero flow velocity of the neutron superfluid with respect to the charged fluid. For typical pinning parameters of the outer core, the superfluid flow is unstable over wavelengths $\lambda\lap 10$ m and over timescales of $\sim (\lambda/{1 m})^{1/2}$ yr down to $\sim 1$ d. The vortex lattice could degenerate into a tangle, and the superfluid flow would become turbulent. We suggest that superfluid turbulence could be responsible for the red timing noise seen in many neutron stars, and find a predicted spectrum that is generally consistent with observations.