Binary pulsars studies with multiwavelength sky surveys -I. Companion star identification

The identification of the stellar companions to binary pulsars is key to studying the evolution of the binary system and how this is influenced by the interactions between the two stars. For only a fraction of the known binary pulsars, the stellar companions have been identified. Here, we used 11 source catalogues available from multiwavelength (ultraviolet, optical, infrared) imaging sky surveys to search for the stellar companions of a sample of 144 field binary pulsars (i.e. not in globular clusters) selected from the Australia Telescope National Facility data base (version 1.48) and from the public list of γ -ray pulsars detected by Fermi.We found positional associations in at least one source catalogue for 22 pulsars, of which 10 are detected in γ -rays by Fermi, including 15 millisecond pulsars. For six pulsars in our compilation, we confirm their identifications. For another seven pulsars that had yet not been identified, we examine potential identifications. In particular, we identified a likely companion star candidate to PSR J2317+1439, whereas for both PSR B1953+29 and PSR J1935+1726 the companion star identification is more uncertain. Follow-up observations of these three pulsars are needed to settle the proposed identifications. For the remaining nine pulsars that had been already identified, we provide additional spectral information in at least one of the surveys' spectral bands, which we will use to better constrain the stars' spectral energy distributions.© 2014 The Authors Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the Royal Astronomical Society.