Search for the Optical Counterpart of the Vela Pulsar X-ray Nebula

Abstract

Observations of the Vela pulsar region with the Chandra X-ray observatory have revealed the fine structure of its synchrotron pulsar-wind nebula (PWN), which showed an overall similarity with the Crab PWN. However, contrary to the Crab, no firm detection of the Vela PWN in optical has been reported yet. To search for the optical counterpart of the X-ray PWN, we analyzed deep optical observations performed with different telescopes. We compared the optical images with those obtained with the Chandra ACIS to search for extended emission patterns which could be identified as counterparts of the X-ray nebula elements. Although some features are seen in the optical images, we find no correlation with the X-ray structure. Thus, we conclude that the diffuse optical emission is more likely associated with filaments in the host Vela SNR. The derived upper limits on the optical flux from the PWN are compatibile, within the uncertainties, with the values expected on the basis of the extrapolations of the X-ray data.

arXiv comment19 pages, 6 figures. Accepted for publication in ApJ

References in corpus (7)

• The Vela Pulsar and its Synchrotron Nebula
• WFPC2 Observations of the Hubble Deep Field-South
• The X-ray Spectrum of the Vela Pulsar Resolved with Chandra
• Variability of the Vela Pulsar-wind Nebula Observed with Chandra
• The distance to the Vela pulsar gauged with HST parallax oservations
• The Compact Central Object in the Supernova Remnant G266.2-1.2
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• Pulsar-Wind Nebulae: Recent Progress in Observations and Theory
• The Vela Pulsar in the Near-Infrared
• Subaru optical observations of the two middle-aged pulsars PSR B0656+14 and Geminga
• The extended hard X-ray emission from the Vela Plerion
• The Vela and Geminga pulsars in the mid-infrared
• The Optical Polarisation of the Vela Pulsar revisited
• Studies of Neutron Stars at Optical/IR Wavelengths
• VLT/NACO observations of the High-Magnetic field radio pulsar PSR J1119-6127
• HST optical polarimetry of the Vela pulsar & nebula
• Nucleonic gamma-ray production in Pulsar Wind Nebulae
• Possible optical counterpart of PSR J1357-6429
• Deep optical observations of the fields of two nearby millisecond pulsars with the VLT
• Near-infrared observations of Rotating Radio Transients
• A likely optical counterpart of the G292.0+1.8 pulsar wind nebula
• HST and VLT observations of Isolated Neutron Stars