Decoding the Enigma of Glitching Stars and Neutron Star Rotation Anomalies

Scientists have made a breakthrough in understanding the dynamics of neutron star "glitches" by studying an exotic form of matter on Earth. Neutron stars, which are incredibly dense and made almost exclusively of neutrons, experience glitches when tiny vortices of swirling inner material break the surface. By numerically simulating a neutron star using ultracold dipolar atoms, researchers found that these glitches may be caused by superfluid vortices carrying angular momentum to the star's surface. The study provides new insights into the behavior of neutron stars and opens avenues for quantum simulation of stellar objects in low-energy Earth laboratories.