Monitoring the Glitch Activity of Magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910 Using NICER and SWIFT

Abrupt spin-up glitches in neutron stars are thought to be the result of a superfluid interior transferring angular momentum to the slower crust as the latter slows down due to magnetic dipole braking. These temporal phenomena are thus our means of understanding superfluidity in neutron matter and the interplay between the inner and outer crust boundary. The persistently bright magnetar 1RXS J170849.0-400910 was the first of the class to exhibit a spin-up glitch in its rotational frequency, and, through subsequent monitoring by RXTE, several more glitches have been recorded from the source in the span of 14 years. Here, I will present the results of Swift-XRT and NICER monitoring campaigns covering the 2013 to 2022 time period, affording a robust method to examine the source’s glitching behavior and possible connections between glitches and other radiative activity, such as bursts and outbursts. Our preliminary analysis revealed several more glitches in 1RXS J170849.0-400910, hence, building a large enough sample for a better understanding of the properties of this phenomenon, such as glitch size and waiting time distributions. We will also extend the same observational and analytical scheme to the larger sample of magnetars in future studies, garnering a better understanding of both individual sources and the population at large.