Limits on the cosmological abundance of supermassive compact objects from a search for multiple imaging in compact radio sources

2); (2) Onsala Space Observatory; 3); (3) Universidade da Madeira.; (4) California Institute of Technology; 5); (5) National Radio Astronomy Observatory; 6) ((1) University of Manchester; (6) Netherlands Foundation for Radioastronomy); A.C.S. Readhead (4)

Limits on the cosmological abundance of supermassive compact objects from a search for multiple imaging in compact radio sources

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arxiv astro-ph/0101328 v1 pith:YQO3D6J7 submitted 2001-01-18 astro-ph

Limits on the cosmological abundance of supermassive compact objects from a search for multiple imaging in compact radio sources

P.N. Wilkinson (1) , D.R. Henstock (1) , I.W.A. Browne (1) , A.G. Polatidis (1 , 2) , P. Augusto (1 , 3) , A.C.S. Readhead (4)

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T.J. Pearson (4) W. Xu (4) G.B. Taylor (4 5) R.C. Vermeulen (4 6) ((1) University of Manchester Jodrell Bank Observatory (2) Onsala Space Observatory (3) Universidade da Madeira. (4) California Institute of Technology (5) National Radio Astronomy Observatory (6) Netherlands Foundation for Radioastronomy)

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Using Very Long Baseline Interferometry we have searched a sample of 300 compact radio sources for examples of multiple imaging produced by gravitational lensing; no multiple images were found with separations in the angular range 1.5--50 milliarcsec. This null result allows us to place a limit on the cosmological abundance of intergalactic supermassive compact objects in the mass range $\sim 10^{6}$ to $\sim 10^{8}$M$_{\odot}$; such objects cannot make up more than $\sim 1%$ of the closure density (95% confidence). A uniformly distributed population of supermassive black holes forming soon after the Big Bang do not, therefore, contribute significantly to the dark matter content of the Universe.

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