Long-term timing and glitch characteristics of anomalous x-ray pulsar 1RXS J170849.0-400910

We present the results of our detailed timing studies of an anomalous X-ray pulsar, 1RXS J170849.0-400910, using Rossi X-ray Timing Explorer (RXTE) observations spanning over ∼6 yr from 2005 until the end of the RXTE mission. We constructed the long-term spin characteristics of the source and investigated the time and energy dependence of the pulse profile and pulsed count rates. We find that the pulse profile and pulsed count rates in the 2-10 keV band do not show any significant variations in ∼6 yr. 1RXS J170849.0-400910 has been the most frequently glitching anomalous X-ray pulsar: three spin-up glitches and three candidate glitches were observed prior to 2005. Our extensive search for glitches later in the timeline resulted in no unambiguous glitches, though we identified two glitch candidates (with Δν/ν ∼ 10^-6) in two data gaps: a strong candidate around MJD 55532 and another one around MJD 54819, which is slightly less robust. We discuss our results in the context of pulsar glitch models and expectancy of glitches within the vortex unpinning model.