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| Paper: |
The Contribution of Faint, Failed, and Defunct Stars to the “Stellar” Masses of Galaxies |
| Volume: |
514, Stellar Populations and the Distance Scale |
| Page: |
79 |
| Authors: |
Schechter, P. L. |
| Abstract: |
A substantial fraction the stellar mass attributed to galaxies is invisible: stars close to the hydrogen-burning limit, brown dwarfs, white dwarfs, neutron stars, and black holes. These constituents do, however, gravitationally micro-lens background quasars, thereby permitting measurement of the total stellar contribution to the mass surface density along the line of sight. We report the results of such a measurement using a sample of ten quadruply lensed quasars. We discuss the prospects for improving upon this measurement with a larger sample and describe efforts to find new quadruple lenses. If we invert our argument and take the stellar mass to be known, we derive a value for the fraction of the dark halo in Massive Compact Halo Objects, or MaCHOs (including ∼20 M☉ primordial black holes), of something less than 10%, confirming the widely ignored result of Mediavilla et al. (2009). |
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