New Microlensing Constraints of Primordial Black Hole Dark Matter based on First Two Years of Kepler Data
Abstract
Primordial Black Holes (PBHs) remain one of the few Dark Matter (DM) candidates left within the Standard Model of Particle Physics. We have previously found that previous PBH DM limits could theoretically be extended by two orders of magnitude by using the microlensing of the source stars monitored by the Kepler satellite due to its photometric precision and the large projected cross section of the nearby stars. Here we present the experimental results of our study of the first two years of Kepler stellar lightcurves. After eliminating background events such as variable stars, flares, and comets, we have found no microlensing events. We were therefore able to calculate our efficiency of detection by introducing millions of fake microlensing events which included limb-darkening and a corrected finite-source microlensing formalism. By performing this Monte Carlo analysis, we have found that PBHs with masses between 2 × 10-9 M⊙ and 10-7 M⊙ cannot constitute the entirety of the DM, thereby constraining a full order of magnitude of the previously allowed PBH DM mass range.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #223
- Pub Date:
- January 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014AAS...22342702C