Microlensing surveys constrain fast and slow compact objects at masses and densities differing by orders of magnitude from dark matter limits due to speed-mass degeneracy in Einstein crossing times.
Eppur non si trovano Vol. 2: No Planetary-mass Primordial Black Holes toward the Andromeda Galaxy
4 Pith papers cite this work. Polarity classification is still indexing.
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abstract
A recent preprint by Sugiyama et al. reported the discovery of twelve candidates for short-timescale (less than one day) gravitational microlensing events based on high-cadence photometric observations of the Andromeda Galaxy (M31) using the Subaru Hyper Suprime-Cam. These detections were attributed to a large population of planetary-mass primordial black holes (PBHs) that could account for the entirety of the dark matter in the Milky Way and M31 halos. However, these results are in clear tension with previous searches for short-timescale microlensing events toward the Magellanic Clouds, such as those by the OGLE survey. In addition, both the temporal and spatial distributions of the Subaru candidates are inconsistent with expectations for microlensing events. Here, we reanalyze the Subaru data using an independent difference image analysis photometric pipeline. We find that all twelve candidates identified by Sugiyama et al. exhibit asymmetric light curves and/or variability on multiple nights of Subaru observations. Our analysis reveals that among them ten objects are RR Lyrae stars, one is an eclipsing binary, and one is an unclassified variable star. We find no compelling evidence for short-timescale microlensing events among the candidates identified in the Subaru data set, nor for a significant population of planetary-mass PBHs as dark matter components. Our results underscore the necessity of robust variable-star rejection in high-cadence microlensing searches using large telescopes.
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UNVERDICTED 4representative citing papers
Tensor perturbations from first-order phase transitions and domain wall annihilation induce curvature fluctuations at second order that form primordial black holes, allowing asteroid-mass PBHs to comprise all dark matter for specific parameter ranges with associated gravitational wave peaks in LISA,
CMB data limits the s-wave annihilation cross section of thermal dark matter particles to ≲ 10^{-30} cm³/s scaled by PBH fraction and mass for PBHs heavier than ~10^{-10} solar masses.
Stellar microlensing surveys exclude compact objects between 10^{-11} and 10^4 solar masses from making up all dark matter under standard assumptions.
citing papers explorer
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Microlensing of fast and slow compact objects
Microlensing surveys constrain fast and slow compact objects at masses and densities differing by orders of magnitude from dark matter limits due to speed-mass degeneracy in Einstein crossing times.
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Primordial Black Hole from Tensor-induced Density Fluctuation: First-order Phase Transitions and Domain Walls
Tensor perturbations from first-order phase transitions and domain wall annihilation induce curvature fluctuations at second order that form primordial black holes, allowing asteroid-mass PBHs to comprise all dark matter for specific parameter ranges with associated gravitational wave peaks in LISA,
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In-depth analysis of the clustering of dark matter particles around primordial black holes. Part III: CMB constraints
CMB data limits the s-wave annihilation cross section of thermal dark matter particles to ≲ 10^{-30} cm³/s scaled by PBH fraction and mass for PBHs heavier than ~10^{-10} solar masses.
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Stellar microlensing surveys as a probe of Primordial Black Holes: status and prospects
Stellar microlensing surveys exclude compact objects between 10^{-11} and 10^4 solar masses from making up all dark matter under standard assumptions.