Bennett Link
Montana State University, MT·Astronomy & Astrophysics
Neutron stars are collapsed stellar cores. They are denser than an atomic nucleus, which makes them natural laboratories for matter that cannot be created on Earth.
- Fields
Astronomy & Astrophysics
Physics
- Topics
neutron stars
pulsars
pulsar glitches
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2029
What they work on
- Simulate the slip-stick, hysteretic motion of quantum vortices in the neutron superfluid and assess its consequences for neutron star spin glitches.
- Model how stellar spin-down drives the vortex array to twist, tangle and be ejected, and test whether a thermo-rotational instability can trigger runaway spin events.
- Develop a model of how neutron star crust failure under spin-down or magnetic stresses frees pinned vortices to produce spin glitches.
- Test whether thermally activated motion of pinned vortices in the inner crust and core is compatible with long-period precession observed in Her X-1 and magnetars.
More about the research
They also show quantum mechanics acting on enormous scales. A neutron star's interior contains a superfluid, a fluid that flows without friction. That superfluid is threaded by quantum vortices, tiny whirlpools whose movement controls how the star spins. Astronomers observe glitches, sudden jumps in a neutron star's spin, and possible precession, a slow wobble of the spin axis. These signals could reveal how dense matter behaves.
Why it matters
This is basic science. The work will produce testable predictions that tie observed neutron star glitches and precession to specific physical processes. These predictions can help astronomers interpret observations. They will also improve understanding of dense matter and nuclear interactions in regimes that no terrestrial laboratory can reach.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Hang Yu
Montana State University, MT·Astronomy & Astrophysics·Early-career
Model nonlinear tides in binary neutron stars by expanding the stars' fluid motion into eigenmodes (natural vibration patterns), including couplings between modes, and coupling them to gravitational-wave-driven orbital decay.
Kuver Sinha
University of Oklahoma, OK·Physics
Constrain axions using neutron stars by combining X-ray polarization data and models of hard X-ray emission from magnetars with the group's framework for axion-induced polarization in dipolar magnetic fields.
Lee Lindblom
University of California-San Diego, CA·Physics
Develop a way to determine the neutron-star equation of state, the pressure–density relationship of matter inside neutron stars, from observations and strong-gravity theory, without assuming any particular microphysics of that matter.
The school
Montana State University: 15 labs on PI Pages, $258M a year on research, 85 research doctorates a year.
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