revision version to cope with scheduling of visits 03 and 04 (see Program Coordinator's comments) ----- Attempting Submission 4 (Wed Sep 05 22:46:10 GMT 2007) ----- Phase II Proposal 10900 (10900_exec.apt) successfully submitted. ----- Attempting Submission 5 (Wed Sep 12 14:40:58 GMT 2007) ----- Optical polarimetry of PSR B0540-69 and its synchrotron nebula. Polarization measurements of pulsars and of their synchrotron nebulae are uniquely able to provide deep insights into the highly magnetized relativistic environment of young rotating neutron stars. Apart from the radio band, pulsar polarization is best measured in the optical, for the rare cases of detectable optical emission. One of the brightest pulsars together with Crab (PSR B0531+21) and Vela (PSR B0833-45), for which optical polarization measurements support the newly developed two-pole caustic model (TPC), is PSR B0540-69 in the Large Magellanic Clouds, often referred as the Crab Twin for their overall similarities in both age and energetics. Together with the Crab, PSR B0540-69 is also the only pulsar embedded in a synchrotron nebula visible at optical wavelengths. We plan to observe PSR B0540-69 and its compact nebula (4 arcsec diameter) with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) and the Wide Field Channel (WFC) detector using UV and visual polarization filters. Thanks to the superb angular resolution of ACS, these observations will allow us to spectacularly resolve the pulsar from its nebular background, providing the first firm measure of the pulsar polarization which will be crucial to assess, on a broader sample, the validity of the TPC model with respect to other pulsars magnetosphere models. These observations will also provide the first detailed polarization map of the nebula, including the jet and the torus seen in our previous WFPC2 images.
We plan to perform deep, high resolution, polarization observations of the LMC pulsar PSR 0540-69 and its surrounding, compact, plerion with the ACS/HRC and the 606W filter. Shorter exposures with no polarized optics will be taken as well to compare the polarized and unpolarized maps of the plerion. Observations are split into three different visits, one visit of two orbits each. HOT STARS 12 false 0.0 false false false false false false SUPPORTED STAR A0-A3 V-IV PULSAR J2000 05 40 11.0480 -69 19 55.18 J2000 ACS/WFC Imaging No No F435W ACS/WFC Imaging No No F606W ACS/WFC Imaging No Yes F435W ACS/WFC Imaging No Yes F606W true C:\Documents and Settings\roberto mignani\Documenti\RMIGNANI\PROPOSALS\HST\CYCLE15\PHASE2\OP-cache\10900_exec-v01.xml (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "01" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20070710" :date "05-Sep-2007 23:41:51.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 3 :saa-model "26" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 806688 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "01" :obset-id "01" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 355 :si-vis-utilization 2640 :al-overhead-at-end 180 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3281 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 2 :pcs-time 355 :si-vis-utilization 2700 :al-overhead-at-end 180 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3281 :pcs-gap 0 ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "01" :orbit-number 3 :pcs-time 355 :si-vis-utilization 2820 :al-overhead-at-end 180 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3281 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 3 0 true C:\Documents and Settings\roberto mignani\Documenti\RMIGNANI\PROPOSALS\HST\CYCLE15\PHASE2\OP-cache\10900_exec-v01.xml true C:\Documents and Settings\roberto mignani\Documenti\RMIGNANI\PROPOSALS\HST\CYCLE15\PHASE2\OP-cache\10900_exec-v02.xml (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "02" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20070710" :date "05-Sep-2007 23:42:00.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 1 :saa-model "26" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 134448 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "02" :obset-id "02" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "02" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 355 :si-vis-utilization 2640 :al-overhead-at-end 180 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3281 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 1 0 true C:\Documents and Settings\roberto mignani\Documenti\RMIGNANI\PROPOSALS\HST\CYCLE15\PHASE2\OP-cache\10900_exec-v02.xml true C:\Documents and Settings\roberto mignani\Impostazioni locali\Temp\OPVisit13563.xml (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "03" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20070710" :date "12-Sep-2007 15:38:39.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 1 :saa-model "26" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 134448 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "03" :obset-id "03" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "03" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 269 :si-vis-utilization 2640 :al-overhead-at-end 180 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3281 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 1 0 true C:\Documents and Settings\roberto mignani\Documenti\RMIGNANI\PROPOSALS\HST\CYCLE15\PHASE2\OP-cache\10900_exec-v03.xml true C:\Documents and Settings\roberto mignani\Documenti\RMIGNANI\PROPOSALS\HST\CYCLE15\PHASE2\OP-cache\10900_exec-v04.xml (Tic-Visit :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "04" :proposal-version -1 :trans-version "20070710" :date "05-Sep-2007 23:42:03.0" :trans-errors '(:WARNINGS 0 :ERRORS 0 :HEALTH-AND-SAFETY 0 :FATAL-ERRORS 0 :CONTINUABLE-FATALS 0) :number-of-orbits 1 :saa-model "26" :si-bright-earth-limb-angle 20.0 :data-volume 134448 :tdrss-contact-duration 0 :coron NIL ) (Tic-Obset :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "04" :obset-id "04" :pcs-mode "FGS" ) (Tic-Orbit :proposal-id 10900 :visit-id "04" :orbit-number 1 :pcs-time 355 :si-vis-utilization 2640 :al-overhead-at-end 180 :internal-dur-at-end 0 :dark-offset NIL :dark-utilization 0 :max-dark-utilization 1920 :low-sky "N" :pcs-visibility 3281 :pcs-gap 0 ) true 1 0 true C:\Documents and Settings\roberto mignani\Documenti\RMIGNANI\PROPOSALS\HST\CYCLE15\PHASE2\OP-cache\10900_exec-v04.xml