Optical observations of the isolated neutron star RX J0720.4-3125

RX J0720.4-3125 is an unidentified bright, soft X-ray source that shows pulsations at an 8.39 s period and has a thermal spectrum. We present deep B- and R-band images of its X-ray localization. We find one possible counterpart in the X-ray error box, with magnitudes B = 26.6 +/- 0.2 and R = 26.9 +/- 0.3. The very high X-ray-to-optical flux ratio confirms that this object is an isolated neutron star. We discuss possible models, and we conclude that only two are consistent with the data and at the same time are able to draw from a large enough population to make finding one nearby likely. In our opinion, the second criterion provides a stringent constraint but appears to have been ignored so far. The first model, suggested earlier, is that RX J0720.4-3125 is a weakly magnetized neutron star accreting from the interstellar medium. The second is that it is a relatively young, highly magnetized neutron star, a "magnetar," which is kept hot by magnetic field decay.