Giant pulsar glitches in full general relativity

We present recent numerical simulations of giant pulsar glitches, as observed in the emblematic Vela pulsar, based on a two-fluid model, including for the first time all general-relativistic effects and realistic equations of state. In particular, we focus on modelling the vortex-mediated transfer of angular momentum that takes place during the spin-up stage from the neutron superfluid to the charged particles through dissipative mutual friction forces. Taking general relativity into account does not only modify the structure of the star but also leads to a new coupling between the fluids arising from frame-dragging effects. As a consequence, general relativity can strongly affect the global dynamics of pulsar glitches : the errors on the value of the characteristic rise time incurred by using Newtonian gravity are thus found to be as large as ∼40% for the models considered.