Bibcode
Mediavilla, E.; Jiménez-Vicente, J.; Muñoz, J. A.; Vives-Arias, H.; Calderón-Infante, J.
Bibliographical reference
The Astrophysical Journal Letters, Volume 836, Issue 2, article id. L18, 5 pp. (2017).
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2
2017
Citations
76
Refereed citations
62
Description
The idea that dark matter can be made of intermediate-mass primordial
black holes (PBHs) in the 10 M ⊙ ≲ M ≲ 200 M
⊙ range has recently been reconsidered, particularly in
the light of the detection of gravitational waves by the LIGO
experiment. The existence of even a small fraction of dark matter in
black holes should nevertheless result in noticeable quasar
gravitational microlensing. Quasar microlensing is sensitive to any type
of compact objects in the lens galaxy, to their abundance, and to their
mass. We have analyzed optical and X-ray microlensing data from 24
gravitationally lensed quasars to estimate the abundance of compact
objects in a very wide range of masses. We conclude that the fraction of
mass in black holes or any type of compact objects is negligible outside
of the 0.05 M ⊙ ≲ M ≲ 0.45 M ⊙
mass range and that it amounts to 20% ± 5% of the total matter,
in agreement with the expected masses and abundances of the stellar
component. Consequently, the existence of a significant population of
intermediate-mass PBHs appears to be inconsistent with current
microlensing observations. Therefore, primordial massive black holes are
a very unlikely source of the gravitational radiation detected by LIGO.
Related projects
Relativistic and Theoretical Astrophysics
Introduction Gravitational lenses are a powerful tool for Astrophysics and Cosmology. The goals of this project are: i) to obtain a robust determination of the Hubble constant from the time delay measured between the images of a lensed quasar; ii) to study the individual and statistical properties of dark matter condensations in lens galaxies from
Evencio
Mediavilla Gradolph