ANTI-GLITCH INDUCED BY COLLISION OF A SOLID BODY WITH THE MAGNETAR 1E 2259+586

Glitches have been frequently observed in neutron stars. Previously, these glitches have unexceptionally manifested as sudden spin-ups that can be explained as being due to impulsive transfer of angular momentum from the interior superfluid component to the outer solid crust. Alternatively, they may also be due to large-scale crust-cracking events. However, an unprecedented anti-glitch was recently reported for the magnetar 1E 2259+586, which clearly exhibited a sudden spin-down, strongly challenging previous glitch theories. Here we show that the anti-glitch can be well explained by the collision of a small solid body with the magnetar. The intruder has a mass of about 1.1 × 10²¹ g. Its orbital angular momentum is assumed to be antiparallel to that of the spinning magnetar, so that the sudden spin-down can be naturally accounted for. The observed hard X-ray burst and decaying softer X-ray emission associated with the anti-glitch can also be reasonably explained. Our study indicates that a completely different type of glitch due to collisions between small bodies and neutron stars should exist and may have already been observed previously. It also hints at a new way of studying capture events by neutron stars: through accurate timing observations of pulsars