A possible optical counterpart to the old nearby pulsar J 0108 − 1431 ⋆

Context. The multi-wavelength study of old (>100 Myr) radio pulsars holds the key to understanding the long-term evolution of neutron stars, including the advanced stages of neutron star cooling and the evolution of the magnetosphere. Optical/UV observations are particularly useful for such studies because they allow one to explore both thermal and non-thermal emission processes. In particular, studying the optical/UV emission constrains temperature of the bulk of the neutron star surface, too cold to be measured in X-ray observations. Aims. Aim of this work is to identify the optical counterpart of the very old (166 Myr) radio pulsar J0108−1431. Methods. We have re-analyzed our original Very Large Telescope (VLT) observations (Mignani et al. 2003), where a very faint object was tentatively detected close to the radio position, near the edge of a field galaxy. Results. We found that the backward extrapolation of the PSR J0108−1431 proper motion recently measured by Chandra (Pavlov et al. 2008) nicely fits the position of this object. Based on that, we propose it as a viable candidate for the optical counterpart to PSR J0108−1431. The object fluxes (U = 26.4 ± 0.3; B ≈ 27.9; V ≥ 27.8) are consistent with a thermal spectrum with a brightness temperature of ∼ 9 × 10 4 K (for R = 13 km at a distance of 130 pc), emitted from the bulk of the neutron star surface. Conclusions. New optical observations are required to confirm the optical identification of PSR J0108−1431 and measure its spectrum.