A Short-Timescale Candidate Microlensing Event in the POINT-AGAPE Pixel Lensing Survey of M31 | Zendy

M. Aurière | Zendy; P. Baillon | Zendy; A. Bouquet | Zendy; B. J. Carr | Zendy; M. Crézé | Zendy; N. W. Evans | Zendy; Y. Giraud–Héraud | Zendy; Andrew Gould | Zendy; P. C. Hewett | Zendy; J. Kaplan | Zendy; E. Kerins | Zendy; E. Lastennet | Zendy; Y. Le Du | Zendy; A. L. Melchior | Zendy; S. PaulinHenriksson | Zendy; S. J. Smartt | Zendy; D. VallsGabaud | Zendy

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A Short-Timescale Candidate Microlensing Event in the POINT-AGAPE Pixel Lensing Survey of M31

Author(s) -

M. Aurière,

P. Baillon,

A. Bouquet,

B. J. Carr,

M. Crézé,

N. W. Evans,

Y. Giraud–Héraud,

Andrew Gould,

P. C. Hewett,

J. Kaplan,

E. Kerins,

E. Lastennet,

Y. Le Du,

A. L. Melchior,

S. PaulinHenriksson,

S. J. Smartt,

D. VallsGabaud

Publication year - 2001

Publication title -

the astrophysical journal

Language(s) - English

Resource type - Journals

SCImago Journal Rank - 2.376

H-Index - 489

eISSN - 1538-4357

pISSN - 0004-637X

DOI - 10.1086/320681

Subject(s) - gravitational microlensing , physics , astrophysics , event (particle physics) , agape , astronomy , gravitational lens , point (geometry) , stars , galaxy , philosophy , geometry , theology , mathematics , redshift

We report the discovery of a short-duration microlensing candidate in the northern field of the POINT-AGAPE pixel lensing survey towards M31. The full-width half-maximum timescale is very short, just 1.8 days. Almost certainly, the source star has been identified on Hubble Space Telescope archival images, allowing us to infer an Einstein crossing time of 10.4 days, a maximum magnification of about 18, and a lens-source proper motion greater than 0.3 microarcsec/day. The event lies projected at 8' from the center of M31, which is beyond the bulk of the stellar lens population. The lens is likely to reside in one of three locations. It may be a star in the M31 disk, or a massive compact halo object (Macho) in either M31 or the Milky Way. The most probable mass is 0.06 solar masses for an M31 Macho, 0.02 solar masses for a Milky Way Macho and 0.2 solar masses for an M31 stellar lens. Whilst the stellar interpretation is plausible, the Macho interpretation is the most probable for halo fractions above 20%

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