Abstract

PSR J1357−6429 is a young radio pulsar that has been detected in the X-ray and γ -ray bands. We present high spatial resolution near-infrared imaging of the pulsar field in the J, H and Ks bands obtained using the VLT/NaCo with the Adaptive Optic system. We found a faint source at the most precise pulsar radio position, which we propose as the pulsar near-infrared counterpart candidate. It is confidently detected in the J and Ks bands, with J = 23.51 ± 0.24 and Ks = 21.82 ± 0.25. There is a hint of the source in the H band, with an upper limit H > 22.8. The dereddened source fluxes are compatible with the extrapolation of the pulsar X-ray spectrum towards the near-infrared. If the candidate is the true counterpart, this property means that PSR J1357−6429 would be similar to the nearby middle-age pulsar PSR B0656+14. In this case, both pulsars demonstrate an unusually high near-infrared efficiency relative to the X-ray efficiency as compared with other pulsars detected in these two ranges.