Stellar microlensing surveys as a probe of Primordial Black Holes: status and prospects

TL;DR

Stellar microlensing surveys are crucial for detecting primordial black holes as dark matter candidates, with current data excluding a wide mass range, and this paper reviews the field's history, status, and future directions.

Contribution

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of stellar microlensing surveys related to primordial black holes, highlighting current constraints and future prospects.

Findings

Current observations exclude primordial black holes as all dark matter in the mass range 10^{-11} to 10^{4} solar masses.

Microlensing surveys have placed significant constraints on compact objects as dark matter candidates.

The paper discusses future observational prospects to improve constraints or detect primordial black holes.

Abstract

Stellar microlensing surveys are a powerful tool for probing dark matter in the form of planetary and stellar mass compact objects (COs), in particular primordial black holes (PBHs). Under standard assumptions, current observations exclude COs in the mass range $10^{-11} \lesssim M/M_{\odot} \lesssim 10^{4}$ making up all of the dark matter. We provide an overview, aimed at theorists working on PBHs, of the history, theory, observational status, and future prospects of the field.