Related papers: Microlensing by Stellar Black Holes Around Sgr A*
If the objects responsible for gravitational microlensing (ML) of Galactic-bulge stars are faint dwarfs, then blended light from the lens will distort the shape of the ML light curve and shift the color of the observed star during the…
We investigate the chance of detecting proto-planetary or debris disks in stars that induce microlensing events (lenses). The modification of the light curves shapes due to occultation and extinction by the disks as well as the additional…
Measurements of stellar orbits provide compelling evidence that the compact radio source Sagittarius A* at the Galactic Centre is a black hole four million times the mass of the Sun. With the exception of modest X-ray and infrared flares,…
We estimate the rate of near-field microlensing events expected from all-sky surveys and investigate the properties of these events. Under the assumption that all lenses are composed of stars, our estimation of the event rate ranges from…
We describe a few recent microlensing results from the MACHO Collaboration. The aim of the MACHO Project was the identification and quantitative description of dark and luminous matter in the Milky Way using microlensing toward the…
The gravitational microlensing as a unique astrophysical tool can be used for studying the atmosphere of stars thousands of parsec far from us. This capability results from the bending of light rays in the gravitational field of a lens…
It is often assumed that the strong gravitational field of a super-massive black hole disrupts an adjacent molecular cloud preventing classical star formation in the deep potential well of the black hole. Yet, young stars have been observed…
We show that observations by Backer and collaborators over the past two decades constrain the time derivative of the proper motion of Sgr A* to be less than 0.14 mas yr^{-2}. Using this result and a preliminary measurement by Eckart and…
We present new, more precise measurements of the mass and distance of our Galaxy's central supermassive black hole, Sgr A*. These results stem from a new analysis that more than doubles the time baseline for astrometry of faint stars…
Only a small fraction of local galaxies harbor an accreting black hole, classified as an active galactic nucleus (AGN). However, many stellar systems are plausibly expected to host black holes, from globular clusters to nuclear star…
It has been suggested that there is possibly a class of stellar-mass black holes (BHs) residing near (distance $\le 10^3 M$) the galactic center massive black hole, Sgr A*. Possible formation scenarios include the mass segregation of…
Currently astrometric microlensing is the only tool that can directly measure the mass of a single star, it can also help us to detect compact objects like isolated neutron stars and black holes. The number of microlensing events that are…
The supermassive black hole at the Galactic center harbors a bound cluster of massive stars that should leave neutron-star remnants. Extrapolating from the available data, we estimate that 100-1000 radio pulsars may presently orbit Sgr A*…
Submilliarcsecond astrometry and imaging of the black hole Sgr A* at the Galactic Center may become possible in the near future at infrared and submillimetre wavelengths. This resolution is sufficient to observe the silhouette the…
Isolated black holes (BHs) and neutron stars (NSs) are largely undetectable across the electromagnetic spectrum. For this reason, our only real prospect of observing these isolated compact remnants is via microlensing; a feat recently…
After correcting spherical aberration in the Hubble Space Telescope in 1993, the central masses of galaxies can be measured with a resolution 5 to 10 times better than can be achieved at the best terrestrial sites. This improvement in…
The LIGO-Virgo gravitational-wave (GW) observation unveiled the new population of black holes (BHs) that appears to have an extended mass spectrum up to around $70M_\odot$, much heavier than the previously-believed mass range ($\sim…
Modern surveys of gravitational microlensing events have progressed to detecting thousands per year. Surveys are capable of probing Galactic structure, stellar evolution, lens populations, black hole physics, and the nature of dark matter.…
Following the suggestion of Gould and Depoy (1998) we investigate the feasibility of studying the brightest microlensing events towards the Galactic bulge using a small aperture (~10 cm) telescope. We used one of the HAT telescopes to…
I report the discovery of a new effect of General Relativity which is important to understand very rapidly rotating (Kerr) black holes. The orbital velocity of a test particle is no longer a monotonic function of the orbit radius when the…