Related papers: Pixel lensing: Microlensing towards M31
I discuss current and future applications of pixel lensing: the microlensing of unresolved stars. Pixel lensing is the tool of choice for studying the Macho dark matter content of external galaxies like Andromeda (M31), and is at the heart…
The Andromeda galaxy (M31) provides a new line of sight for Galactic MACHO studies and also a signature, near-far asymmetry, which may establish the existence of MACHOs in the M31 halo. We outline the principles behind the so-called…
M31 is a very tempting target for a microlensing search of compact objects in galactic haloes. It is the nearest large galaxy, it probably has its own dark halo, and its tilted position with respect to the line of sight provides an…
Microlensing is the tool of choice for the search and the analysis of compact halo objects ("MACHOs"), a still viable class of dark matter candidates at the galactic scale. Different analyses point towards an agreement in excluding dark…
I report on recent results from the POINT-AGAPE pixel-lensing experiment, which is engaged in a search towards the Andromeda galaxy (M31) for gravitational microlensing signatures from massive compact halo objects (Machos). An analysis of…
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…
Recent results of the SLOTT-AGAPE and POINT-AGAPE collaborations on a search for microlensing events in direction of the Andromeda galaxy, by using the pixel method, are reported. The detection of 4 microlensing events, some likely to be…
In the framework of the search of dark matter in galactic halos in form of massive compact halo object (MACHOs), we discuss the status of microlensing observations towards the Magellanic Clouds and the Andromeda galaxy, M31. The detection…
Within 8 years, the current microlensing surveys of M31 will provide several hundred events affecting unresolved stars. They will thus allow a statistical study of the dark matter in M31's halo. The NGST will resolve these stars and…
We describe a new method to search for gravitational microlensing toward the Galactic bulge that employs a small camera rather than a conventional telescope and probes new regions of parameter space. The small aperture (~65 mm) permits…
We study the possibility to detect extrasolar planets in M31 through pixel-lensing observations. Using a Monte Carlo approach, we select the physical parameters of the binary lens system, a star hosting a planet, and we calculate the…
Traditional approaches to measuring the stellar mass function (MF) are fundamentally limited because objects are detected based on their luminosity, not their mass. These methods are thereby restricted to luminous and relatively nearby…
It has been shown by Paczy\'nski that gravitational microlensing is potentially a useful method for detecting the dark constituents of the halo of our galaxy, if their mass lies in the approximate domain $10^{-6}<M/M_\odot<10^{-1}$.…
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…
Microlensing observations have now become a useful tool in searching for non--luminous astrophysical compact objects (brown dwarfs, faint stars, neutron stars, black holes and even planets). Originally conceived for establishing whether the…
AGAPE is an observational search of massive compact halo objects (MACHOs) in the direction of M31 by means of a novel method: the gravitational microlensing of unresolved stars. The search consists in examining CCD pixel light curves for…
Microlensing started with the seminal paper by Paczy\'nski in 1986, first with observations towards the Large Magellanic Cloud and the galactic bulge. Since then many other targets have been observed and new applications have been found. In…
Pixel lensing, gravitational microlensing of unresolved stars, is potentially much more sensitive and much more widely applicable than is generally recognized. I give explicit expressions for the pixel noise induced by a time-variable PSF,…
A new type of gravitational microlensing experiment toward a field where stars are not resolved is being developed observationally and theoretically: pixel lensing. When the experiment is carried out toward the M31 bulge area, events may be…
The only way to detect planets around stars at distances of several kpc is by (photometric or astrometric) microlensing observations. In this paper, we show that the capability of photometric microlensing extends to the detection of signals…