Unraveling the MACHO Mystery II

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9727520 Gould Dr. Andrew Gould of Ohio State University will carry out several lines of research aimed at resolving puzzles associated with the microlensing phenomenon used to search for dark matter (sometimes referred to as MACHOs) that may comprise a majority of the mass of our Milky Way galaxy. His principal areas of investigation are (1) Follow-up observations and analysis of microlensing events detected in the bulge of the Galaxy to better understand their nature; (2) Attempt to better determine whether microlensing events in the bulge of the Galaxy are better explained by a disk or spheroid mass function, and thus obtain important clues as to the nature of the lenses; and (3) Study what can be learned about the relation between the spheroid and the bar of the Galaxy from the ~10,000 RR Lyrae type stars that will be found in microlensing searches in the inner Galaxy. Understanding the relation between the barred and the unbarred components of the Galactic bulge may yield important clues to a solution of the microlensing puzzles in this direction.