Related papers: Lensing constraints on ultradense dark matter halo…
Ultracompact minihalos would be formed if there are larger density perturbations ($0.0003 < \delta\rho/\rho < 0.3$) in the earlier epoch. The density profile of them is steeper than the standard dark matter halos. If the dark matter can…
Cosmological observations, e.g., cosmic microwave background, have precisely measured the spectrum of primordial curvature perturbation on larger scales, but smaller scales are still poorly constrained. Since primordial black holes (PBHs)…
We propose the existence of ultracompact minihalos as a new type of massive compact halo object (MACHO) and suggest an observational test to discover them. These new MACHOs are a powerful probe into the nature of dark matter and physics in…
Ultracompact minihalo (UCMH) is a special type of dark matter halo with a very steep density profile which may form in the early universe seeded by an overdense region or a primordial black hole. Constraints on its abundance give valuable…
For a Gaussian spectrum of primordial density fluctuations, ultracompact minihalos (UCMHs) of dark matter are expected to be produced in much greater abundance than, e.g., primordial black holes. Forming shortly after matter-radiation…
Ultracompact Minihalos (UCMHs) have been proposed as a type of dark matter sub-structure seeded by large-amplitude primordial perturbations and topological defects. UCMHs are expected to survive to the present era, allowing constraints to…
Numerous microlensing survey programs have constrained the possibility of dark matter existing in the form of compact objects within the Galactic halo. These constraints on the dark matter fraction were derived under the assumption of…
The discovery of black-hole-binary mergers through their gravitational wave (GW) emission has reopened the exciting possibility that dark matter is made, at least partly, of primordial black holes (PBHs). However, this scenario is…
Microlensing of stars places significant constraints on sub-planetary-mass compact objects, including primordial black holes, as dark matter candidates. As the lens' Einstein radius in the source plane becomes comparable to the size of the…
Events like inflation or phase transitions can produce large density perturbations on very small scales in the early Universe. Probes of small scales are therefore useful for e.g. discriminating between inflationary models. Until recently,…
Gravitational waves from binary black holes that are gravitationally lensed can be distorted by small microlenses along the line of sight. Microlenses with masses of a few tens of solar masses, and that are close to a critical curve in the…
The dark matter enclosed in a density perturbation with a large initial amplitude (delta-rho/rho > 1e-3) collapses shortly after recombination and forms an ultracompact minihalo (UCMH). Their high central densities make UCMHs especially…
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…
We investigate gravitational microlensing signals produced by a spatially extended object transiting in front of a finite-sized source star. The most interesting features arise for lens and source sizes comparable to the Einstein radius of…
Cosmological inflation generates primordial density perturbations on all scales, including those far too small to contribute to the cosmic microwave background. At these scales, isolated ultracompact minihalos of dark matter can form well…
The local environment is ideal for searching out compact dark structures via the microlensing and multi-frequency emissions as these objects are expected to be faint and microlensing experiments have already hinted at their possibility. In…
With future wide and deep cosmological sky surveys, a large number of gravitationally lensed, multiply imaged systems will be found. In addition to multiply imaged galaxies and quasars, sources will include transient events like supernovae…
Ultracompact minihalos (UCMHs) have emerged as a valuable probe of the primordial power spectrum of density fluctuations at small scales. UCMHs are expected to form at early times in regions with ${\delta\rho/\rho \gtrsim 10^{-3}}$, and…
We show that dark matter substructure in galaxy-scale halos perturbs the time delays between images in strong gravitational lens systems. The variance of the effect depends on the subhalo mass function, scaling as the product of the…
In the cold dark matter scenario, the smallest dark matter halos may be earth mass or smaller. These microhalos would be the densest dark matter objects in the Universe, making their accurate characterization important for astrophysical…