Open AccessConstraining the location of microlensing objects towards the Large Magellanic Cloud through parallax measurement in EAGLE observations
Author(s) -
Sumi T.,
Kanya Y.
Publication year - 2002
Publication title -
monthly notices of the royal astronomical society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.058
H-Index - 383
eISSN - 1365-2966
pISSN - 0035-8711
DOI - 10.1046/j.1365-8711.2002.05981.x
Subject(s) - gravitational microlensing , physics , astronomy , parallax , astrophysics , large magellanic cloud , stars , galactic halo , gravitational lens , halo , galaxy , redshift
We investigate the possibility of determining whether microlensing objects towards the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) are in a Galactic thick disc, or are in a Galactic halo, by using parallax measurements with an Earth‐radius scale baseline. Our method makes use of extremely amplified gravitational lensing (EAGLE) events, which are microlensing events with an invisible faint source. We show that the rate of EAGLE events is as high as that of normal microlensing events, even if they are caused by dark stars in the Galactic thick disc. We explore the possibility of measuring the parallax effect in EAGLE events towards the LMC by using the Hubble Space Telescope ( HST ) or the Very Large Telescope (VLT). We find that EAGLE events enlarge the opportunity for parallax measurements by 4–10 times relative to that in normal microlensing events. We show that the parallax effect can be measured in ∼75 per cent (from the HST ) and ∼60 per cent (from the VLT) of all EAGLE events if most lenses are stars in the Galactic thick or thin disc, while ∼20 per cent (from the HST ) and ∼10 per cent (from the VLT) can be measured if most lenses are massive compact halo objects. In combination with the finite source size effect observations, we can strongly constrain the location of lenses.