A Near‐Infrared Search for Counterparts to Three Pulsars in Young Supernova Remnants

Abstract

We present moderately deep JHK s -band searches for near-infrared counterparts to three energetic pulsars in young supernova remnants: PSR B1509-58, PSR J1811-1925, and PSR J1930+1852. We identify a possible counterpart to PSR B1509-58 (which has H~=20.6 mag and K s ~=19.4 mag, comparable to the flux extrapolated from the X-ray spectrum) with an X-ray-to-infrared flux ratio very similar to that of the Crab pulsar on the basis of its coincidence with the X-ray and radio positions and its anomalous colors, but whether or not we have identified the correct counterpart remains to be confirmed by future observations. For PSR J1811-1925 and PSR J1930+1852 we detect no counterparts, which seems to be consistent with the X-ray-to-infrared flux ratios implied by other young pulsars.