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Abstract Primordial black holes (PBHs) could explain some fraction of dark matter and shed light on many areas of early-Universe physics. Despite over half a century of research interest, a PBH population has so far eluded detection. The most competitive constraints on the fraction of dark matter comprised of PBHs (fDM) in the (10−9–10)M⊙mass ranges come from photometric microlensing and boundfDM≲ 10−2–10−1. With the advent of the Roman Space Telescope with its submilliarcsecond astrometric capabilities and its planned Galactic Bulge Time Domain Survey (GBTDS), detecting astrometric microlensing signatures will become routine. Compared with photometric microlensing, astrometric microlensing signals are sensitive to different lens masses–distance configurations and contain different information, making it a complimentary lensing probe. At submilliarcsecond astrometric precision, astrometric microlensing signals are typically detectable at larger lens–source separations than photometric signals, suggesting a microlensing detection channel of pure astrometric events. We use a Galactic simulation to predict the number of detectable microlensing events during the GBTDS via this pure astrometric microlensing channel. Assuming an absolute astrometric precision floor for bright stars of 0.1 mas for the GBTDS, we find that the number of detectable events peaks at ≈103fDMfor a population of 1M⊙PBHs and tapers to ≈10fDMand ≈100fDMat 10−4M⊙and 103M⊙, respectively. Accounting for the distinguishability of PBHs from stellar lenses, we conclude the GBTDS will be sensitive to a PBH population atfDMdown to ≈10−1–10−3for (10−1–102)M⊙likely yielding novel PBH constraints.
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Probing dark matter with adaptive-optics based flux ratio anomalies: photometric and astrometric precision
ABSTRACT Strong gravitational lensing is a powerful probe of the distribution of matter on sub-kpc scales. It can be used to test the existence of completely dark sub-haloes surrounding galaxies, as predicted by the standard cold dark matter model, or to test alternative dark matter models. The constraining power of the method depends strongly on photometric and astrometric precision and accuracy. We simulate and quantify the capabilities of upcoming adaptive optics systems and advanced instruments on ground-based telescopes, focusing as an illustration on the Keck Telescope (OSIRIS + KAPA, LIGER + KAPA) and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT; IRIS + NFIRAOS). We show that these new systems will achieve dramatic improvements over current ones in both photometric and astrometric precision. Narrow line flux ratio errors below 2 per cent, and submilliarcsecond astrometric precision will be attainable for typical quadruply imaged quasars. With TMT, the exposure times required will be of order a few minutes per system, enabling the follow-up of 100–1000 systems expected to be discovered by the Rubin, Euclid, and Roman Telescopes.
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- PAR ID:
- 10507832
- Publisher / Repository:
- Oxford University Press
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Volume:
- 531
- Issue:
- 1
- ISSN:
- 0035-8711
- Format(s):
- Medium: X Size: p. 885-897
- Size(s):
- p. 885-897
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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