Mesolensing Explorations of Nearby Masses: From Planets to Black Holes

TL;DR

Mesolensing offers a promising method to detect and study nearby dark and dim objects, including planets, white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes, by observing high-probability lensing events in the solar neighborhood.

Contribution

This paper explores the potential of mesolensing to discover and analyze local dark objects, discussing current feasibility and future prospects with upcoming all-sky surveys.

Findings

Mesolensing can measure masses and velocities of nearby dark objects.

It can identify binary systems with dim companions.

Future surveys like LSST will greatly enhance mesolensing studies.

Abstract

Nearby masses can have a high probability of lensing stars in a distant background field. High-probability lensing, or mesolensing, can therefore be used to dramatically increase our knowledge of dark and dim objects in the solar neighborhood, where it can discover and study members of the local dark population (free-floating planets, low-mass dwarfs, white dwarfs, neutron stars, and stellar mass black holes). We can measure the mass and transverse velocity of those objects discovered (or already known), and determine whether or not they are in binaries with dim companions. We explore these and other applications of mesolensing, including the study of forms of matter that have been hypothesized but not discovered, such as intermediate-mass black holes, dark matter objects free-streaming through the Galactic disk, and planets in the outermost regions of the solar system. In each case we discuss the feasibility of deriving results based on present-day monitoring systems, and also consider the vistas that will open with the advent of all-sky monitoring in the era of the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (Pan-STARRS), and the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST).