We present the analysis of the light curves of nine high-magnification single-lens gravitational microlensing events with lenses passing over source stars, including OGLE-2004-BLG-254, MOA-2007-BLG-176, MOA-2007-BLG-233/OGLE-2007-BLG-302, MOA-2009-BLG-174, MOA-2010-BLG-436, MOA-2011-BLG-093, MOA-2011-BLG-274, OGLE-2011-BLG-0990/MOA-2011-BLG-300, and OGLE-2011-BLG-1101/MOA-2011-BLG-325. For all of the events, we measure the linear limb-darkening coefficients of the surface brightness profile of source stars by measuring the deviation of the light curves near the peak affected by the finite-source effect. For seven events, we measure the Einstein radii and the lens-source relative proper motions. Among them, five events are found to have Einstein radii of less than 0.2 mas, making the lenses very low mass star or brown dwarf candidates. For MOA-2011-BLG-274, especially, the small Einstein radius of θE ∼ 0.08 mas combined with the short timescale of tE ∼ 2.7 days suggests the possibility that the lens is a free-floating planet. For MOA-2009-BLG-174, we measure the lens parallax and thus uniquely determine the physical parameters of the lens. We also find that the measured lens mass of ∼0.84 M☉ is consistent with that of a star blended with the source, suggesting that the blend is likely to be the lens. Although we did not find planetary signals for any of the events, we provide exclusion diagrams showing the confidence levels excluding the existence of a planet as a function of the separation and mass ratio.

Brown dwarfs are important objects because they may provide a missing link between stars and planets, two populations that have dramatically different formation history. In this paper, we present the candidate binaries with brown dwarf companions that are found by analyzing binary microlensing events discovered during 2004 - 2011 observation seasons. Based on the low mass ratio criterion of q < 0.2, we found 7 candidate events, including OGLE-2004-BLG-035, OGLE-2004-BLG-039, OGLE-2007-BLG-006, OGLE-2007-BLG-399/MOA-2007-BLG-334, MOA-2011-BLG-104/OGLE-2011-BLG-0172, MOA-2011-BLG-149, and MOA-201-BLG-278/OGLE-2011-BLG-012N. Among them, we are able to confirm that the companions of the lenses of MOA-2011-BLG-104/OGLE-2011-BLG-0172 and MOA-2011-BLG-149 are brown dwarfs by determining the mass of the lens based on the simultaneous measurement of the Einstein radius and the lens parallax. The measured mass of the brown dwarf companions are (0.02 +/- 0.01) M_Sun and (0.019 +/- 0.002) M_Sun for MOA-2011-BLG-104/OGLE-2011-BLG-0172 and MOA-2011-BLG-149, respectively, and both companions are orbiting low mass M dwarf host stars. More microlensing brown dwarfs are expected to be detected as the number of lensing events with well covered light curves increases with new generation searches.

Microlensing can provide a useful tool to probe binary distributions down to low-mass limits of binary companions. In this paper, we analyze the light curves of eight binary-lensing events detected through the channel of high-magnification events during the seasons from 2007 to 2010. The perturbations, which are confined near the peak of the light curves, can be easily distinguished from the central perturbations caused by planets. However, the degeneracy between close and wide binary solutions cannot be resolved with a 3σ confidence level for three events, implying that the degeneracy would be an important obstacle in studying binary distributions. The dependence of the degeneracy on the lensing parameters is consistent with a theoretical prediction that the degeneracy becomes severe as the binary separation and the mass ratio deviate from the values of resonant caustics. The measured mass ratio of the event OGLE-2008-BLG-510/MOA-2008-BLG-369 is q ∼ 0.1, making the companion of the lens a strong brown dwarf candidate.

We present Hubble Space Telescope (HST) WFPC2 photometry of 13 microlensed source stars from the 5.7 year Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) survey conducted by the MACHO Project. The microlensing source stars are identified by deriving accurate centroids in the ground-based MACHO images using difference image analysis (DIA) and then transforming the DIA coordinates to the HST frame. None of these sources is coincident with a background galaxy, which rules out the possibility that the MACHO LMC microlensing sample is contaminated with misidentified supernovae or AGN in galaxies behind the LMC. This supports the conclusion that the MACHO LMC microlensing sample has only a small amount of contamination due to non-microlensing forms of variability. We compare the WFPC2 source star magnitudes with the lensed flux predictions derived from microlensing fits to the light curve data. In most cases the source star brightness is accurately predicted. Finally, we develop a statistic which constrains the location of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) microlensing source stars with respect to the distributions of stars and dust in the LMC and compare this to the predictions of various models of LMC microlensing. This test excludes at > 90% confidence level models where more than 80% of the source stars lie behind the LMC. Exotic models that attempt to explain the excess LMC microlensing optical depth seen by MACHO with a population of background sources are disfavored or excluded by this test. Models in which most of the lenses reside in a halo or spheroid distribution associated with either the Milky Way or the LMC are consistent which these data, but LMC halo or spheroid models are favored by the combined MACHO and EROS microlensing results.

We present a 9 million star color-magnitude diagram (9M CMD) of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) bar. The 9M CMD reveals a complex superposition of different age and metallicity stellar populations, with important stellar evolutionary phases occurring over three orders of magnitude in number density. First, we count the non-variable red and blue supergiants, the associated Cepheid variables, and measure the stellar effective temperatures defining the Cepheid instability strip. Lifetime predictions of stellar evolution theory are tested, with implications for the origin of low-luminosity Cepheids. The highly-evolved asymptotic giant branch (AGB) stars in the 9M CMD have a bimodal distribution in brightness, which we interpret as discrete old populations ( > ∼ 1 Gyr). The faint AGB sequence may be metal-poor and very old. Comparing the mean properties of giant branch and horizontal branch (HB) stars in the 9M CMD to those of clusters, we identify NGC 411 and M3 as templates for the admixture of old stellar populations in the bar. However, there are several indications that the old and metal-poor field population has a red HB morphology: the RR Lyrae variables lie preferentially on the red edge of the instability strip, the AGB-bump is very red, and the ratio of AGB-bump stars to RR Lyraes is quite large. If the HB second parameter is age, the old and metal-poor field population in the bar likely formed after the oldest LMC clusters. Lifetime predictions of stellar evolution theory lead us to associate a significant fraction of the ∼1 million red HB clump giants in the 9M CMD with the same old and metal-poor population producing the RR Lyraes and the AGB-bump. In this case, compared to the age-dependent luminosity predictions of stellar evolution theory, the red HB clump is too bright relative to the RR Lyraes and AGB-bump. Last, we show that the surface density profile of RR Lyraes is fit by an exponential, favoring a disk-like rather than spheroidal distribution. We conclude that the age of the LMC disk is probably similar to the age of the Galactic disk. Subject headings: galaxies: Magellanic Clouds, stellar content — stars: colormagnitude diagrams (HR diagram), evolution, horizontal-branch, supergiants — stars: variables: AGB, Cepheids, RR Lyrae variable

More than 1300 variables classified provisionally as first overtone RR Lyrae pulsators in the macho variable star database of the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) have been subjected to standard frequency analysis. Based on the remnant power in the prewhitened spectra, we found 70% of the total population to be monoperiodic. The remaining 30% (411 stars) are classified as one of 9 types according to their frequency spectra. Several types of RR Lyrae pulsational behavior are clearly identified here for the first time. Together with the earlier discovered double-mode (fundamental & first overtone) variables this study increased the number of the known double-mode stars in the LMC to 181. During the total 6.5 yr time span of the data, 10% of the stars show strong period changes. The size, and in general also the patterns of the period changes exclude simple evolutionary explanation. We also discovered two additional types of multifrequency pulsators with low occurrence rates of 2% for each. In the first type there remains one closely spaced component after prewhitening by the main pulsation frequency. In the second type the number of remnant components is two, they are also closely spaced, and, in addition, they are symmetric in their frequency spacing relative to the central component. This latter type of variables is associated with their relatives among the fundamental pulsators, known as Blazhko variables. Their high frequency (≈ 20%) among the fundamental mode variables versus the low occurrence rate of their first overtone counterparts makes it more difficult to explain Blazhko phenomenon by any theory depending mainly on the role of aspect angle or magnetic field. None of the current theoretical models are able to explain the observed close frequency components without invoking nonradial pulsation components in these stars. Subject headings: globular clusters: general — stars: horizontal-branch — stars: oscillations — stars: variables: other (RR Lyrae) Institute for Geophysics and Planetary Physics, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 94550, USA alcock, kcook, mgeha, stuart, cnelson, popowski1@llnl.gov Mount Stromlo and Siding Spring Observatory, Australian National University, Weston Creek, ACT 0200, Australia ajd, kcf, peterson, tsa@mso.anu.edu.au, robyn@mindful.anu.edu.au Space Telescope Science Institute, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA alves@stsci.edu Department of Astronomy, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA austin, becker, stubbs@astro.washington.edu Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego, CA 92093, USA kgriest, tvandehei@ucsd.edu Department Astronomia, Universidad Catolica, Chile dante@astro.puc.cl Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA European Southern Observatory, Garching, D-85748, Germany pjq@eso.org Department of Physics, Oxford University, OX1 3RH, England w.sutherland@physics.ox.ac.uk Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, L82 4M1, Canada welch@physics.mcmaster.ca Department of Physics, University of Sheffield, S3 7RH, England Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, IN 46556, USA bennett@nd.edu Konkoly Observatory, P.O. Box 67, H-1525 Budapest, Hungary kovacs@konkoly.hu Department of Astronomy, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch 7701, South Africa dkurtz@ma.saao.ac.za Department of Astronomy, University of Toronto, Toronto, M5S 3H8, Canada cclement, rowe@astro.utoronto.ca

Using 7 yr of MACHO survey data, we present a new determination of the optical depth to microlensing toward the Galactic bulge. We select the sample of 62 microlensing events ( 60 unique) on clump giant sources and perform a detailed efficiency analysis. We use only the clump giant sources because these are bright bulge stars and are not as strongly affected by blending as other events. Using a subsample of 42 clump events concentrated in an area of 4.5 deg(2) with 739,000 clump giant stars, we find tau 2.17(-0.38)(+0.47) x 10(-6) at (l, b) (1.degrees 50; -2.degrees 68), somewhat smaller than found in most previous MACHO studies but in excellent agreement with recent theoretical predictions. We also present the optical depth in each of the 19 fields in which we detected events and find limits on optical depth for fields with no events. The errors in optical depth in individual fields are dominated by Poisson noise. We measure optical depth gradients of (1.06 +/- 0.71)x 10(-6) deg(-1) and (0.29 +/- 0.43)x 10(-6) deg(-1) in the Galactic latitude b and longitude l directions, respectively. Finally, we discuss the possibility of anomalous duration distribution of events in the field 104 centered on (l; b) (3 degrees.11, -3 degrees.01), as well as investigate spatial clustering of events in all fields.

Shapes of RR Lyrae light curves can be described in terms of Fourier coefficients that past research has linked with physical characteristics such as luminosity, mass, and temperature. Fourier coefficients have been derived for the V and R light curves of 785 overtone RR Lyrae variables in 16 MACHO fields near the bar of the LMC. In general, the Fourier phase differences ϕ21, ϕ31, and ϕ41 increase and the amplitude ratio R21 decreases with increasing period. The coefficients for both the V and R magnitudes follow these patterns, but the phase differences for the R curves are on average slightly greater, and their amplitudes are about 20% smaller, than the ones for the V curves. The ϕ31 and R21 coefficients have been compared with those of the first-overtone RR Lyrae variables in the Galactic globular clusters NGC 6441, M107, M5, M3, M2, ω Centauri, and M68. The results indicate that many of the LMC variables have properties similar to the ones in M2, M3, M5, and the Oosterhoff type I variables in ω Cen, but they are different from the Oosterhoff type II variables in ω Cen. Equations derived from hydrodynamic pulsation models have been used to calculate the luminosity and temperature for the 330 bona fide first-overtone variables. The results indicate that they have log L in the range 1.6–1.8 L⊙ and log Teff between 3.85 and 3.87. Based on these temperatures, a mean color excess E(V-R) = 0.08 mag, equivalent to E(B-V) = 0.14 mag, has been estimated for these 330 stars. The 80 M5-like variables (selected according to their location in the ϕ31–log P plot) are used to determine an LMC distance. After correcting for the effects of extinction and crowding, a mean apparent magnitude ⟨V0⟩ = 18.99 ± 0.02 (statistical) ±0.16 (systematic) has been estimated for these 80 stars. Combining this with a mean absolute magnitude MV = 0.56 ± 0.06 for M5-like stars derived from Baade-Wesselink analyses, main-sequence fitting, Fourier parameters, and the trigonometric parallax of RR Lyrae, we derive an LMC distance modulus μ = 18.43 ± 0.06 (statistical) ±0.16 (systematic) mag. The large systematic error arises from the difficulties of correcting for interstellar extinction and for crowding.

We present 47 spectroscopically confirmed quasars discovered behind the Magellanic Clouds identified via photometric variability in the MACHO database. Thirty-eight quasars lie behind the Large Magellanic Cloud and nine behind the Small Magellanic Cloud, more than tripling the number of quasars previously known in this region. The quasars cover the redshift interval 0.2 < z < 2.8 and have apparent mean magnitudes 16.6 ≤ ≤ 20.1. We discuss the details of quasar candidate selection based on time variability in the MACHO database and present results of spectroscopic follow-up observations. Our follow-up detection efficiency was 20%; the primary contaminants were emission-line Be stars in Magellanic Clouds. For the 47 quasars discovered behind the Magellanic Clouds, plus an additional 12 objects previously identified in this region, we present 7.5 yr MACHO V- and R-band light curves with average sampling times of 2–10 days.

We describe a few recent microlensing results from the MACHO Collaboration. The aim of the MACHO Project was the identification and quantitative description of dark and luminous matter in the Milky Way using microlensing toward the Magellanic Clouds and Galactic bulge. We start with a discussion of the HST follow-up observations of the microlensing events toward the LMC detected in the first 5 years of the experiment. Using color-magnitude diagrams we attempt to distinguish between two possible locations of the microlensing sources: 1) in the LMC or 2) behind the LMC. We conclude that unless the extinction is extremely patchy, it is very unlikely that most of the LMC events have sources behind the LMC. During an examination of the HST images of the 13 LMC events we found a very red object next to the source star of event LMC-5. Astrometry, microlensing parallax fit, and a spectrum suggest that in this case we directly image the lens - a low-mass disk star. Then we focus on the majority of events observed by the MACHO Project, which are detected toward the Galactic bulge. We argue that the microlensing optical depth toward the bulge is best measured using events that have clump giant sources, which are almost unaffected by blending. From this sample we derive a low optical depth toward the Galactic bulge of (1.4 +/- 0.3) x 10^-6, in good agreement with other observational constraints and with theoretical models. The presence of many long-duration events among the bulge candidates allows us to investigate the microlensing parallax effect. Events with the strongest parallax signal are probably due to massive remnants. Events MACHO-96-BLG-5 and MACHO-98-BLG-6 might have been caused by the 6-solar-mass black holes.

We have frequency-analyzed 6391 variables classified earlier as fundamental-mode RR Lyrae (RR0) stars in the MACHO database on the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). The overwhelming majority (i.e., 96%) of these variables have been proved to be indeed RR0 stars, whereas the remaining ones have fallen into one of the following categories: single- and double-mode Cepheids, binaries, first-overtone and double-mode RR Lyrae stars, and nonclassified variables. Special attention has been paid to the properties of the amplitude- and phase-modulated RR0 stars (the Blazhko stars). We found altogether 731 Blazhko variables showing either a doublet or an equidistant triplet pattern at the main pulsation component in their frequency spectra. This sample overwhelmingly exceeds the number of Blazhko stars known in all other systems combined. The incidence rate of the Blazhko variables among the RR0 stars in the LMC is 11.9%, which is 3 times higher than their rate among the first-overtone RR Lyrae stars. No difference is found in the average brightness between the single-mode and Blazhko variables. However, the latter ones show a somewhat lower degree of skewness in their average light curves and a concomitant lower total amplitude in their modulation-free light curves. From the frequency spectra we found that variables with larger modulation amplitudes at the higher frequency side of the main pulsation component are 3 times more common than the ones showing the opposite amplitude pattern. A search for a modulation component with the Blazhko period in the average brightness of the individual variables showed the existence of such a modulation with an overall amplitude of ≈0.006 mag. On the other hand, a similar search for quadruple modulation patterns around the main pulsation component has failed to clearly detect such components at the ≈0.004 mag level. This means that the amplitudes of the quadruple components (if they exist) should be, on average, at least 10 times smaller than those of the triplet components. This finding and the existence of Blazhko variables with highly asymmetric modulation amplitudes not only question the validity of the magnetic oblique rotator model but also put stringent constraints on models based on mode-coupling theories.

We have performed a search for halo white dwarfs as high prope r motion objects in a second epoch WFPC2 image of the Groth-Westphal strip. The survey covers 74.8 ar cmin2, and is complete toV ∼ 26.5. We identify 24 high proper motion objects with μ > 0.014/y. Five of these high proper motion objects are identified as strong white dwarf candidates on the basis of their color, ( V − I) < 1.4. We also identify two marginal candidates whose photometric errors are within ∼ 1σ of our color cutoff. We create a model of the Milky Way thin dis k, thick disk and stellar halo and find that this sample of white dwarfs is cl early an excess above the ∼ 1 detections expected from these known stellar populations. The origin of the exce ss signal is less clear. Possibly, the excess cannot be explained without invoking a fourth galactic component: a w hite dwarf dark halo. Previous work of this nature has separated white dwarf samples into various galactic com ponents based on kinematics; distances, and thus velocities, are unavailable for a sample this faint. Theref or , we present a statistical separation of our sample into the four components using only the directly observable vari ables,V , (V − I), ~μ. We perform a maximum likelihood analysis to find the most likely local white dwarf densities s uggested by the observations. We find that our results depend sensitively on our assumptions about the age and init ial mass function of the dark halo component. Using the lowest mean mass model for the dark halo and the 5 WD sample we find n0,thin disk = 2.4+0.7 −0.6 × 10 −2 pc−3, n0,thick disk = 0.0+7.6×10−4 pc−3, n0,stellar halo= 0.0+5.8×10−5 pc−3, andn0,dark halo= 1.0+0.4 −0.4×10 −3 pc−3. This implies a 7% white dwarf halo and six times the canonical value for the thin disk white dwarf density (at marginal statistical significance). Possible systematic errors due to uncertainty in the model parameters likely dominate these statistical error bars.

AbstractWe present the preliminary results of a frequency analysis of 1457 fundamental mode RR Lyrae (RR0) stars in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) from MACHO Project photometry. We find the same classes of pulsational behavior as were found in our earlier survey of first overtone RR Lyrae (RR1) stars. Variables whose prewhitened power spectra contain one or two peaks close to the main frequency component in the original power spectra are commonly known as Blazhko-type variables. The present analysis shows the overall frequency of Blazhko-type stars in the total RR0 population analysed to date to be ≈ 10%. This is lower than the often cited Galactic field/globular rate of 20-30% (Szeidl, 1988).The incidence rate of Blazhko-type variability in the LMC appears to be about three times higher in RR0 stars than in RR1 stars. This puts important constraints on possible models of the Blazhko effect.

We present a method for solving the light curve of an eclipsing binary system that contains a Cepheid variable as one of its components as well as the solutions for three eclipsing Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC). A geometric model is constructed in which the component stars are assumed to be spherical and on circular orbits. The emergent system flux is computed as a function of time, with the intrinsic variations in temperature and radius of the Cepheid treated self-consistently. Fitting the adopted model to photometric observations, incorporating data from multiple bandpasses, yields a single parameter set best describing the system. This method is applied to three eclipsing Cepheid systems from the MACHO project LMC database: MACHO 6.6454.5, 78.6338.24, and 81.8997.87. A best-fit value is obtained for each system's orbital period and inclination and for the relative radius, color, and limb-darkening coefficients of each star. Pulsation periods and parameterizations of the intrinsic color variations of the Cepheids are also obtained, and the amplitude of the radial pulsation of each Cepheid is measured directly. The system 6.6454.5 is found to contain a 4.97 day Cepheid, which cannot be definitely classified as type I or type II, with an unexpectedly brighter companion. The system 78.6338.24 consists of a 17.7 day, W Virginis class type II Cepheid with a smaller, dimmer companion. The system 81.8997.87 contains an intermediate-mass, 2.03 day overtone Cepheid with a dimmer, red giant secondary.

We present an analysis of the longest timescale microlensin g events discovered by the MACHO Collaboration during a seven year survey of the Galactic bulge. We find six events that exhibit very strong microlensing parallax signals due, in p art, to accurate photometric data from the GMAN and MPS collaborations. The microlensing para ll x fit parameters are used in a likelihood analysis, which is able to estimate the distanc e and masses of the lens objects based upon a standard model of the Galactic velocity distribution . This analysis indicates that the most likely masses of five of the six lenses are > 1M⊙, which suggests that a substantial fraction of the Galactic lenses may be massive stellar remnants. This co uld explain the observed excess of long timescale microlensing events. The lenses for events M ACHO-96-BLG-5 and MACHO98-BLG-6 are the most massive, with mass estimates of M/M⊙ = 6 +10 −3 andM/M⊙ = 6 +7 −3 , respectively. The observed upper limits on the absolute bri ghtness of main sequence stars for these lenses are < 1L⊙, so both lenses are black hole candidates. The black hole int erpre ation is also favored by a likelihood analysis with a Bayesian prio r using a conventional model for Based in part on Observations from NASA’s Hubble Space Teles cope Department of Physics, University of Notre Dame, IN 46556 Center for Particle Astrophysics, University of Californi a, Berkeley, CA 94720 Bell Laboratories, Lucent Technologies, 600 Mountain Aven ue, Murray Hill, NJ 07974 Departments of Astronomy and Physics, University of Washin gto , Seattle, WA 98195 Department of Physics and Astronomy, University of Pennsyl vania, Philadelphia, PA, 19104-6396 Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Livermore, CA 945 50 Supercomputing Facility, Australian National University , Canberra, ACT 0200, Australia Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Dr., Bal timore, MD 21218 Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mount Strom lo Observatory, Cotter Road, Weston, ACT 2611, Australia Physics Department, University of the Free State, Bloemfon tein 9300, South Africa Department of Astronomy and Astrophysics, University of Ca lifornia, Santa Cruz 95064 Department of Physics, University of California, San Diego , CA 92039 Tate Laboratory of Physics, University of Minnesota, Minne apolis, MN 55455 Depto. de Astronomia, P. Universidad Catolica, Casilla 104 , Santiago 22, Chile Department of Physics, University of California, Berkeley , CA 94720 Max-Planck-Institut für Astrophysik, Karl-Schwarzschi ld-Str. 1, 85741 Garching bei München, Germany European Southern Observatory, Karl Schwarzchild Str. 2, D -85748 Garching bei München, Germany Department of Physics, University of Oxford, Oxford OX1 3RH , U.K. Department of Physics and Astronomy, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, L8S 4M1

We present an analysis of the longest timescale microlensing events discovered by the MACHO Collaboration during a 7 year survey of the Galactic bulge. We find six events that exhibit very strong microlensing parallax signals due, in part, to accurate photometric data from the GMAN and MPS collaborations. The microlensing parallax fit parameters are used in a likelihood analysis, which is able to estimate the distances and masses of the lens objects based on a standard model of the Galactic velocity distribution. This analysis indicates that the most likely masses of five of the six lenses are greater than 1 M☉, which suggests that a substantial fraction of the Galactic lenses may be massive stellar remnants. This could explain the observed excess of long-timescale microlensing events. The lenses for events MACHO-96-BLG-5 and MACHO-98-BLG-6 are the most massive, with mass estimates of M/M☉ = 6 and M/M☉ = 6, respectively. The observed upper limits on the absolute brightness of main-sequence stars for these lenses are less than 1 L☉, so both lenses are black hole candidates. The black hole interpretation is also favored by a likelihood analysis with a Bayesian prior using a conventional model for the lens mass function. We consider the possibility that the source stars for some of these six events may lie in the foreground Galactic disk or in the Sagittarius (Sgr) dwarf galaxy behind the bulge, but we find that bulge sources are likely to dominate our microlensing parallax event sample. Future Hubble Space Telescope observations of these events can either confirm the black hole lens hypothesis or detect the lens stars and provide a direct measurement of their masses. Future observations of similar events by the Space Interferometry Mission or the Keck or VLT interferometers, as explained by Delplancke, Górski, & Richichi, will allow direct measurements of the lens masses for stellar remnant lenses as well.

We report on a search for long-duration microlensing events toward the Large Magellanic Cloud. We find none and therefore put limits on the contribution of high-mass objects to the Galactic dark matter. At a 95% confidence level, we exclude objects in the mass range of 0.3-30.0 M-circle dot from contributing more than 4 x 10(11) M-circle dot to the Galactic halo. Combined with earlier results, this means that objects with masses under 30 M-circle dot cannot make up the entire dark matter halo if the halo is of typical size. For a typical dark halo, objects with masses under 10 M-circle dot contribute less than 40% of the dark matter.