Optical, ultraviolet, and infrared observations of isolated neutron stars

Roberto P. Mignani

Published 2009-12-15Version 1

Forty years passed since the optical identification of the first isolated neutron star (INS), the Crab pulsar. 25 INSs have been now identified in the optical (O), near-ultraviolet (nUV), or near-infrared (nIR), hereafter UVOIR, including rotation-powered pulsars (RPPs), magnetars, and X-ray-dim INSs (XDINSs), while deep investigations have been carried out for compact central objects (CCOs), Rotating RAdio transients (RRATs), and high-magnetic field radio pulsars (HBRPs). In this review I describe the status of UVOIR observations of INSs, their emission properties, and I present the results from recent observations.