Astronomy and Astrophysics – Astrophysics
Scientific paper
2000-03-24
Astronomy and Astrophysics
Astrophysics
32 pages, Latex with 16 postscript figures, submitted to ApJS
Scientific paper
10.1086/322529
The MACHO project is a search for dark matter in the form of massive compact halo objects (MACHOs). The project has photometrically monitored tens of millions of stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC), Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC), and Galactic bulge in search of rare gravitational microlensing events caused by these otherwise invisible objects. In 5.7 years of observations toward the LMC some 13-17 microlensing events have been observed by the MACHO survey, allowing powerful statements to be made about the nature of the dark population in the halo of our Galaxy. A critical component of these statements is an accurate determination of the survey's detection efficiency. The detection efficiency is a complicated function of temporal sampling, stellar crowding (the luminosity function), image quality, photometry, time-series analysis, and criteria used to select the microlensing candidates. Such a complex interdependence is most naturally solved using a Monte Carlo approach. Here we describe the details of the Monte Carlo used to calculate the efficiency presented in the MACHO 5.7-year LMC results. Here we correct several shortcomings of past determinations, including (1) adding fainter source stars (2.5 magnitudes below our faintest detected "stars"), (2) an up-to-date luminosity function for the LMC, (3) better sampling of real images in both stellar density and observing conditions, (4) an improved scheme for adding artificial microlensing onto a random sample of real lightcurves, and many other improvements. [Abridged]
Alcock Charles
Allsman R. A.
Alves David R.
Axelrod Tim S.
Becker Andrew C.
No associations
LandOfFree
The MACHO Project: Microlensing Detection Efficiency does not yet have a rating. At this time, there are no reviews or comments for this scientific paper.
If you have personal experience with The MACHO Project: Microlensing Detection Efficiency, we encourage you to share that experience with our LandOfFree.com community. Your opinion is very important and The MACHO Project: Microlensing Detection Efficiency will most certainly appreciate the feedback.
Profile ID: LFWR-SCP-O-149475