A Non-Radial Oscillation Model for Pulsar State Switching
  Pulsars are unique astrophysical laboratories because of their clock-like timing precision, providing new ways to test general relativity and detect gravitational waves. One impediment to high-precision pulsar timing experiments is timing noise. Recently Lyne et al. (2010) showed that the timing noise in a number of pulsars is due to quasi-periodic fluctuations in the pulsars' spin-down rates and that some of the pulsars have associated changes in pulse profile shapes. Here we show that a non-radial oscillation model based on asteroseismological theory can explain these quasi-periodic fluctuations. Application of this model to neutron stars will increase our knowledge of neutron star emission and neutron star interiors and may improve pulsar timing precision. 
Rachel Rosen, Maura A. McLaughlin, Susan E. Thompson
astro-ph.SR