Many energetic gamma-ray pulsars discovered by Fermi are promising candidates for optical follow-ups. We present the results of the first deep optical observations of the two Vela-like Fermi pulsars PSR J1357-6429 and PSR J1048-5832 performed with the VLT. However, they have not been detected down to V~27 and V~27.6, respectively (3 sigma). These upper limits suggest an efficiency in converting spin-down power into optical luminosity < 7x10d-7 and <6x10d-6, respectively, lower than the Crab pulsar and, possibly, more compatible with the spin-down age of these two pulsars.
@article{arxiv.1110.5273,
title = {VLT observations of Fermi pulsars},
author = {R. P. Mignani and A. Shearer and A. de Luca and P. Moran and S. Collins and M. Marelli},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1110.5273},
year = {2011}
}
Comments
4 pages, 4 postscript figures; Proceedings of the 2011 Fermi Symposium