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

R. P. Mignani·L. Pulone·G. Iannicola·G. G. Pavlov·L. Townsley·O. Y. Kargaltsev
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Abstract

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). Although a few new potential counterparts have been detected within or close to the revised Chandra X-ray error circle (~1 arcsec) of the pulsar, only two of them (with magnitudes m_{814W} ~ 23.9 and m_{814W} ~ 24.2) show indications of a peculiar spectrum which could be related to optical emission from the pulsar. This might be true also for a third, fainter, candidate detected only in one filter (with magnitude m_{814W} ~ 26.7). If either of the two brighter candidates is indeed the actual counterpart, the optical output of PSR J0537-6910 would make it similar to young Crab-like pulsars. If not, it would mean that PSR J0537-6910 is significantly underluminous with respect to all pulsars detected in the optical

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R. P. Mignani, L. Pulone, G. Iannicola, G. G. Pavlov, L. Townsley, O. Y. Kargaltsev. 2004-11-02. Search for the elusive optical counterpart of PSR J0537-6910 with the HST Advanced Camera for Surveys. https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361%3A20041781

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