Microlensing by a noncompact spheroidal gravitational lens

Abstract

In the process of their evolution, small-scale clusters of weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs) that formed in the early Universe can acquire rotational momentum and spheroidal shape. Even small oblateness of a cluster similar to that of the critical Roche surface can lead to the appearance of caustics in the plane of a source lensed by the object. The multiple source images that form in this case cannot be resolved in modern observations, and the cluster behaves like a noncompact spheroidal lens. The caustic crossing that occurs in the case of relative motion of the observer, the cluster of particles, and the lensed star can produce a large variety of flux curves, including those such as have been observed during microlensing events and interpreted as manifestations of binary gravitational lenses. Therefore, we cannot rule out the possibility that at least some of these events might actually be associated with clusters of WIMPs.