MACHO versus HST: how bright can dark matter be?
Abstract
Recent results from gravitational microlensing experiments, such as MACHO, indicate that a substantial fraction of the Galactic dark matter (DM) is in compact form, with a typical mass in the range ~0.05 - 1 Mo. This mass range favours the DM being either low-mass hydrogen-burning stars or white-dwarf remnants of an early stellar population. There appears however to be a conflict between microlensing and other results, such as from Hubble Space Telescope (HST), which argue against a high DM fraction in hydrogen-burning stars or their remnants. Here I discuss the possibility that the DM detected by MACHO comprises low-mass stars residing in globular cluster associations. I show that such a scenario can reconcile HST and MACHO results and can also satisfy cluster dynamical constraints.
Cite
@article{arxiv.astro-ph/9710061,
title = {MACHO versus HST: how bright can dark matter be?},
author = {E. J. Kerins},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:astro-ph/9710061},
year = {2007}
}
Comments
3 pages, latex + 1 postscript figure. Requires psfig.sty and mprocl.sty. To appear in the proceedings of the 8th Marcel Grossmann meeting on General Relativity, Jerusalem, 22-27 June 1997