High-priority targets for transient gravitational waves from glitching pulsars

Glitching pulsars are expected to be important sources of gravitational waves (GWs). In this paper, we explore six different models that propose the emission of transient continuous waves, lasting days to months, coincident with glitches. The maximal GW energy is calculated for each model, which is then used to determine whether associated GWs could be detectable with LIGO-Virgo-KAGRA's O4 detectors. We provide an analytical approximation to calculate the signal-to-noise ratio (SNR) which includes information about the source's sky position, improving on previous estimates that assume isotropic or sky and orientation averaged sensitivities. By analysing the entire glitching population, we find that certain models predict detectable signals in O4, whereas others do not. We also rank glitching pulsars by SNR, based on archival data, and we find that for all models, the Vela pulsar (PSR J0835$-$4510) would provide the strongest signal. Moreover, PSR J0537$-$6910 is not expected to yield a detectable signal in O4, but will start becoming relevant for next-generation detectors. Our analysis also extends to the entire pulsar population, regardless of whether they have glitched, and we provide a list of pulsars that would present a significant signal, if they were to glitch. Finally, we apply our analysis to the 2024 April Vela glitch and find that a signal should be detectable under certain models. The non-detection of a supposedly detectable signal would provide an efficiency factor that quantifies a model's contribution to GW emission, eventually leading to a differentiation of models and independent constraints on physical parameters.