Gravitational microlensing as a method of detecting disk dark matter and faint disk stars

view Abstract Citations (157) References (14) Co-Reads Similar Papers Volume Content Graphics Metrics Export Citation NASA/ADS Gravitational Microlensing as a Method of Detecting Disk Dark Matter and Faint Disk Stars Griest, Kim ; Alcock, Charles ; Axelrod, Timothy S. ; Bennett, David P. ; Cook, Kem H. ; Freeman, Kenneth C. ; Park, Hye-Sook ; Perlmutter, Saul ; Peterson, Bruce A. ; Quinn, Peter J. ; Rodgers, Alexander W. ; Stubbs, Christopher W. ; MACHO Collaboration Abstract Gravitational microlensing of stars in the Galactic bulge is proposed as a method of probing the mass density of disk objects in the 10^-3^ to 10^-1^ M_sun _ range. A substantial rate is found if disk dark matter of this form exists, and even without any dark matter, a significant microlensing rate is found, owing to the faint low-mass disk stars which are known to exist. Such a search would provide new information on the disk dark matter question, probe the low-end stellar mass function, and also search for halo dark matter, all with rates comparable to those expected for the ongoing LMC microlensing halo dark matter searches. Publication: The Astrophysical Journal Pub Date: May 1991 DOI: 10.1086/186028 Bibcode: 1991ApJ...372L..79G Keywords: Dark Matter; Galactic Structure; Gravitational Lenses; Stellar Mass; Binary Stars; Optical Thickness; Astrophysics; DARK MATTER; GRAVITATIONAL LENSES; STARS: LOW-MASS full text sources ADS | data products NED (1)