Computer Science
Scientific paper
Oct 1994
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994natur.371..493h&link_type=abstract
Nature, Volume 371, Issue 6497, pp. 493-495 (1994).
Computer Science
30
Scientific paper
DESPITE the evidence for substantial amounts of dark matter in the haloes of galaxies1,2, its nature is still unknown. Gravitational microlensing of light from a nearby galaxy by objects in the Galactic halo with masses of about 0.1 solar masses was reported recently3,4. If these objects are baryonic, low-mass stars seem the most probable candidates. But extrapolation of the locally observed distribution of stellar masses5-7 to this range suggests that such low-mass stars comprise an insignificant fraction of the Galactic halo, so that microlensing events due to 0.1-solar-mass stars should be rare. Here we report the results of a search for very low-mass stars at high galactic latitudes. Using their near-infrared colours to estimate their intrinsic luminosities, we conclude that very little of the dark matter in the halo of the Milky Way can be made of low-mass hydrogen-burning stars. If the dark matter is baryonic, then we predict that further searches for microlensing events will see a large number of events corresponding to masses of less than 0.07 solar masses.
Cowie Lennox L.
Gilmore Gerard
Hu Esther M.
Huang Sheng-Jun
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