English

Gravitational microlensing by dark matter in extended structures

Cosmology and Nongalactic Astrophysics 2020-04-15 v2 High Energy Physics - Phenomenology

Abstract

Dark matter may be in the form of non-baryonic structures such as compact subhalos and boson stars. Structures weighing between asteroid and solar masses may be discovered via gravitational microlensing, an astronomical probe that has in the past helped constrain the population of primordial black holes and baryonic MACHOs. We investigate the non-trivial effect of the size of and density distribution within these structures on the microlensing signal, and constrain their populations using the EROS-2 and OGLE-IV surveys. Structures larger than a solar radius are generally constrained more weakly than point-like lenses, but stronger constraints may be obtained for structures with mass distributions that give rise to caustic crossings or produce larger magnifications.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2002.08962,
  title  = {Gravitational microlensing by dark matter in extended structures},
  author = {Djuna Croon and David McKeen and Nirmal Raj},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2002.08962},
  year   = {2020}
}

Comments

11 pages revtex4, 5 figures, 1 table; v2: Fig 1 redrawn, conclusions unchanged, references added, matches PRD version

R2 v1 2026-06-23T13:48:36.724Z