Search for the elusive optical counterpart of PSR J0537-6910 with the HST Advanced Camera f

We present the results of deep, high-resolution, multi-band optical observations of the field of the young (~ 5,000 yrs) 16 ms X-ray pulsar PSR J0537$-$6910 performed with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) aboard the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). Altho

Astronomy&Astrophysicsmanuscriptno.1781(DOI:willbeinsertedbyhandlater)

February2,2008

SearchfortheelusiveopticalcounterpartofPSRJ0537–6910

withtheHSTAdvancedCameraforSurveys

R.P.Mignani1,L.Pulone2,G.Iannicola2,G.G.Pavlov3,L.Townsley3,andO.Y.Kargaltsev3

1

arXiv:astro-ph/0411047v1 2 Nov 2004

2

3

EuropeanSouthernObservatory,Karl-Schwarzschild-Str.2,D-85748,Garching,Germanye-mail:rmignani@eso.org

INAF-OsservatorioAstronomicodiRoma,ViadiFrascati33,I-00040MontePorzioCatone,Italy,e-mail:pulone@mporzio.astro.it,giacinto@mporzio.astro.it

PennsylvaniaStateUniversity,525DaveyLab,UniversityPark,PA16802,USA,e-mail:pavlov@astro.psu.edu,townsley@astro.psu.edu,green@astro.psu.edu

Received...

Abstract.Wepresenttheresultsofdeep,high-resolution,multi-bandopticalobservationsofthe eldoftheyoung(～5,000yrs)16msX-raypulsarPSRJ0537 6910performedwiththeAdvancedCameraforSurveys(ACS)aboardtheHubbleSpaceTelescope(HST).AlthoughafewnewpotentialcounterpartshavebeendetectedwithinorclosetotherevisedChandraX-rayerrorcircle( 1′′)ofthepulsar,onlytwoofthem(withmagnitudesm814W≈23.9andm814W≈24.2)showindicationsofapeculiarspectrumwhichcouldberelatedtoopticalemissionfromthepulsar.Thismightbetruealsoforathird,fainter,candidatedetectedonlyinone lter(withmagnitudem814W≈26.7).Ifeitherofthetwobrightercandidatesisindeedtheactualcounterpart,theopticaloutputofPSRJ0537 6910wouldmakeitsimilartoyoungCrab-likepulsars.Ifnot,itwouldmeanthatPSRJ0537 6910issigni cantlyunderluminouswithrespecttoallpulsarsdetectedintheoptical.Keywords.Stars:pulsars:individual:PSRJ0537 6910

1.Introduction

PSRJ0537 6910isayoungX-raypulsaratthecenteroftheplerionicsupernovaremnantN157BintheLMC,closetothe30Doradusstarformingregion.Pulsationswitha16msperiodwereserendipitouslydiscoveredbyRXTE(Marshalletal.1998)andimmediatelycon rmedbyASCAandBeppo-SAX(Cusumanoetal.1998).Thus,PSRJ0537 6910hastakenovertheCrabpulsar(P=33ms)asthefastest“ordinary”pulsar(i.e.,notspunupbyaccretionfromacompanionstar)discoveredsofar.The

˙≈5×10 14ss 1),timederivativeofthepulsarperiod(P

obtainedfromthemulti-epochtiming(Marshalletal.1998;Cusumanoetal.1998)yieldedaspindownageof～5000yrs,similartotheageofN157B(WangandGotthelf1998),whichmakesPSRJ0537 6910oneofthehandfulofknownpulsarsyoungerthan10000yrs.Atthesametime,withaderivedrotationalenergyloss˙≈4.8×1038ergss 1,itisthemostenergeticpulsarE

known.Asexpectedforayoungpulsar,largeglitchesinthespindownhavebeenrepeatedlydetectedduringdif-ferentRXTEtimingcampaigns(Middleditchetal.2001;Marshalletal.2004).ObservationsofPSRJ0537 6910