Browsing by Author "Nkomozake, Thando"

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    A study of vortex lattices and pulsar glitches
    (2019) Nkomozake, Thando; Weltman, Amanda; Murugan, Jeff
    In this project we study the three fundamental theories that explain the phenomenon of superconductivity: The London theory, the Ginzburg-Landau theory and the BCS theory. We review works by several authors who utilized these theories as the basis for their investigation. In our literature review we study the behavior of single and multivortex states in mesoscopic thin superconducting discs whose dimensions are comparable to the penetration depth λ and the coherence length ξ of a superconductor. We learn about the types of phase transitions that the vortex configurations undergo and the stability of the resulting states. Our aim is to investigate how vortex configurations reorganize after phase transitions and whether their reorganization releases any energy into the system of vortices in the disc. If so, then what is the precise mechanism through which the released energy is transferred into the disc? We aim to answer this question and generalize the results to neutron star interiors in order to explain and predict the behavior of pulsar glitches.