What is an anti-magnetar? Is it a neutron star without the strong magnetic field? It kind of sounds like a monopole neutron star, but if that was the case it would have made much bigger headlines.

The anti-glitch issue[edit]

Often magnetars speed up (and more rarely slow down) and many of the reasons for this behaviour have not been fully explained by astrophysics.[21]
Astronomers have theorized that glitches occur when fluid inside the star rotates faster than the crust and suddenly transfers some extra momentum during a disturbance. They think the spectacular outbursts of x-rays occur in the 20 to 30 per cent of glitches where the disturbance is violent enough to crack the crust, Kaspi said.
Because the strange 2012 outburst was accompanied by a slowdown, Kaspi is calling it an anti-glitch.[22]
That kind of behaviour is "not at all what you expect if that whole picture of glitches in these stars is correct. It shouldn't happen that way," Kaspi added. "It's hard to imagine how fluid interior is slower than crust."
Kaspi has since contacted theorists who have helped her come up with a possible explanation — that pockets of fluid rotating slower than the crust could be responsible.[23]