Optical Observations of PSR J0205+6449

Abstract

PSR J0205+6449 is a X-ray and radio pulsar in supernova remnant 3C 58. We report on observations of the central region of 3C 58 using the 4.2-m William Herschel Telescope with the intention of identifying the optical counterpart of PSR J0205+6449 and characterising its pulsar wind nebula. Around the pulsar position we identified extended emission with a magnitude of $B = 23 \fm 97 \pm 0.10$, $V = 22 \fm 95 \pm 0.05$ and $R = 22 \fm 15 \pm 0.03$ consistent with a pulsar wind nebula. From the R-band image we identified three knots with $m_R$ = $24 \fm 08 \pm 0.07$ (o1), $24 \fm 15 \pm 0.07$ (o2) and $24 \fm 24 \pm 0.08$ (o3). We confirm the presence of an optical pulsar wind nebula around PSR J0205+6449 and give an upper limit of $m_R\approx$ 24 for the optical magnitude of the pulsar. Furthermore we make the tentative suggestion that our object o1, with an $m_R\approx$ 24.08 is the optical counterpart. If confirmed the pulsar would have an $L_R/L_x\approx 0.004$ and an optical efficiency of about 5% of the Crab pulsar. Such a low efficiency is more consistent with the characteristic age of the pulsar rather than that of SN 1181.

The paper contains 3 figures and 3 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

References in corpus (7)

• Discovery of X-ray Pulsations from the Compact Central Source in the Supernova Remnant 3C 58
• Discovery of radio pulsations from the X-ray pulsar J0205+6449 in supernova remnant 3C58 with the Green Bank Telescope
• Radio Images of 3C 58: Expansion and Motion of its Wisp
• A Shell of Thermal X-ray Emission Associated with the Young Crab-like Remnant 3C58
• Optical identification of the 3C 58 pulsar wind nebula
• Implications of the Optical Observations of Neutron Stars
• OPTIMA: A Photon Counting High-Speed Photometer

Cited by in corpus (7)

• A Thorough Investigation of Distance and Age of the Pulsar Wind Nebula 3C58
• Core collapse supernova remnants with ears
• The Proper Motion of PSR J0205+6449 in 3C 58
• The PSR J1124-5916 wind nebula in the near-infrared
• A likely optical counterpart of the G292.0+1.8 pulsar wind nebula
• Optical Observations of PSR J0205+6449 - the next optical pulsar?
• A polarized view of the young Pulsar Wind Nebula 3C 58 with IXPE