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Register a new userHST Imaging of MEGA Microlensing Candidates in M31
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We investigate $HST$/ACS and WFPC2 images at the positions of five candidate microlensing events from a large survey of variability in M31 (MEGA). Three closely match unresolved sources, and two produce only flux upper limits. All are confined to regions of the color-magnitude diagram where stellar variability is unlikely to be easily confused with microlensing. Red variable stars cannot explain these events (although background supernova are possible for two). If these lenses arise in M31s halo, they are due to masses $0.15 < m / M_odot < 0.49$ (95% certainty, for a $delta$-function mass distribution), brown dwarfs for disk lenses, and stellar masses for bulge lenses.
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One of the possible astrophysical solutions to the galactic dark matter problem is the presence of a significant amount of ``dark compact objects (MACHOs) in galactic dark matter halos. MEGA (Microlensing Exploration of the Galaxy and Andromeda) tries to find proof for or against the presence of compact objects in the halo of the Andromeda galaxy (M31) by looking for the microlensing signature that would be induced by these objects. The lightcurves presented here are preliminary and based on observations of M31 with the Isaac Newton Telescope (INT) on La Palma during the second half of 1999.
We present the first M31 candidate microlensing events from the Microlensing Exploration of the Galaxy and Andromeda (MEGA) survey. MEGA uses several telescopes to detect microlensing towards the nearby Andromeda galaxy, M31, in order to establish whether massive compact objects are a significant contribution to the mass budget of the dark halo of M31. The results presented here are based on observations with the Isaac Newton Telescope on La Palma, during the 1999/00 and 2000/01 observing seasons. In this data set, 14 variable sources consistent with microlensing have been detected, 12 of which are new and 2 have been reported previously by the POINT-AGAPE group. A preliminary analysis of the spatial and timescale distributions of the candidate events support their microlensing nature. We compare the spatial distributions of the candidate events and of long-period variable stars, assuming the chances of finding a long-period variable and a microlensing event are comparable. The spatial distribution of our candidate microlensing events is more far/near side asymmetric than expected from the detected long-period variable distribution. The current analysis is preliminary and the asymmetry not highly significant, but the spatial distribution of candidate microlenses is suggestive of the presence of a microlensing halo.
This paper has been withdrawn.
This paper has been withdrawn.
We present the first results of the analysis of data collected during the 1998-99 observational campaign at the 1.3 meter McGraw-Hill Telescope, towards the Andromeda galaxy (M31), aimed to the detection of gravitational microlensing effects as a probe of the presence of dark matter in our and in M31 halo. The analysis is performed using the pixel lensing technique, which consists in the study of flux variations of unresolved sources and has been proposed and implemented by the AGAPE collaboration. We carry out a shape analysis by demanding that the detected flux variations be achromatic and compatible with a Paczynski light curve. We apply the Durbin-Watson hypothesis test to the residuals. Furthermore, we consider the background of variables sources. Finally five candidate microlensing events emerge from our selection. Comparing with the predictions of a Monte Carlo simulation, assuming a standard spherical model for the M31 and Galactic haloes, and typical values for the MACHO mass, we find that our events are only marginally consistent with the distribution of observable parameters predicted by the simulation.
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