The MACHO Project: Parallax and Binary Source Microlensing Events

Session 83 - Gravitational Lensing.
Display session, Friday, January 09
Exhibit Hall,

[83.03] The MACHO Project: Parallax and Binary Source Microlensing Events

D. P. Bennett (Notre Dame), W. Sutherland (Oxford), A. C. Becker, C. Stubbs, A. Tomaney (Washington), C. Alcock, D. Alves, K. Cook, D. Minniti, S. Marshall (LLNL), R. Allsman, T. Axelrod, K. Freeman, B. Peterson, A. Rodgers (MSSSO), K. Griest, T. Vandehei (UCSD), M. Lehner (Sheffield), P. Quinn (ESO), D. Welch (McMaster)

We present the results from parallax and binary source fits for more than 200 gravitational microlensing events observed by the MACHO Collaboration toward the Galactic Bulge and the Magellanic Clouds. For a fraction of these events, we have a significant detection of a lightcurve deviation due to the orbital motion of the Earth (parallax) or a binary source. In these cases, an estimate of the distance and mass of the lens is obtained. When these effects are not detected, we obtain limits on the distance and mass of the lens. The implications of these results for the interpretation of the excess lensing seen towards both the LMC and and Galactic bulge are also discussed.

This paper is dedicated to Alex Rodgers who made the MACHO Project possible.

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