Unpulsed Optical Emission from the Crab Pulsar

Abstract

Using the high speed 2-d TRIFFID photometer, we have obtained phase resolved photometry of the Crab pulsar in UBV that allows us to flux the unpulsed light curve component. Following de-extinction, weighted least-square fitting indicates a power-law exponent of alpha = -0.62 +/- 0.49. This is steeper than that reported for the peak components and its origin remains unclear with respect to contemporary magnetospheric theory.

2 pages, 2 figures, to appear in the Proceedings of IAU Colloquium 177 : "Pulsar Astronomy - 2000 & Beyond", Ed. Kramer, Wex & Wielebinski, ASP conf.Series. Uses newpasp.sty