Astron. Astrophys. 363, 617-628 (2000)

9. Conclusion

Definitive optical observations of the Crab and other pulsars have to date been restricted - either by poor temporal resolution both in terms of resolution and with respect to absolute UTC, and also by the limited spatial information which is crucial in distinguishing the pulsar's emission from the background. Using the TRIFFID high speed photometer, we have obtained datasets uncompromised by these previous limitations, and in addition to confirming many of the previous conclusions of Eikenberry et al. (1997), we have determined several new results uniquely due to the technology we have implemented, including the fluxing of the unpulsed component of emission, the absolute arrival times of the three light curves with respect to one another, and the spatial extent of the plateau on the main peak. Our photometric analysis was however limited by the reference data we used to renormalize the flux ratios thus determined. It is clear that further analysis using more photometrically accurate reference data combined with further observations at extended wavebands, such as the UV or would yield fluxes that would provide excellent leverage to the least-squares fits and thus produce more significant power-law exponents. In terms of a more rigorous temporal analysis of the light curves, deeper observations in UBV would place limits on the extent of the main peak's plateau, and possibly indicate if it is energy dependent. Furthermore, a greater sample of photons per pulse period may allow us to probe the possible correlation between the radio giant pulses and high energy emission mechanisms. We note that the incorporation of polarimetric technology into this nascent field of 2-d high speed photometry would yield critical data which would undoubtedly reveal more clues to puzzle over, and thus contribute towards the eventual solution to this three decade old mystery of how exactly pulsars function.

© European Southern Observatory (ESO) 2000

Online publication: December 11, 2000
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