HARTREE FOCK BOGOLIUBOV CALCULATION OF THE PINNING ENERGY OF VORTICES ON NUCLEI IN THE INNER CRUST OF NEUTRON STARS

We address the problem of vortex nucleus interaction in the inner crust of neutron stars. The relevance of this problem is connected with the observed glitches in pulsars that can be explained with an exchange of angular momentum from the superfluid neutrons in the inner crust to the outer crust. The problem is solved within the Hartree-Fock-Bogoliubov theory. We find that the properties of the vortex are strongly influenced by finite size effects, leading to qualitative differences with respect to results based on semiclassical approximations.