Results from a Survey of Gravitational Microlensing towards M31

Abstract

We describe the results of a search for microlensing events affecting stars in the outer bulge and inner disk of M31, due both to masses in M31 and the Galaxy. These observations, from 1994 and 1995 on the Vatican Advanced Technology Telescope and KPNO 4m, are sufficient to rule out masses in the range of ~0.003 M_sol to 0.08 M_sol as the primary consistuents of the mass of M31 towards this field. Furthermore we find six candidate events consistent with microlensing due to masses of about 1 M_sol, but we suspect that some of these may be cases where long-period red supergiant variables may be mistaken for microlensing events. Coverage from anticipated data should be helpful in determining if these sources maintain a constant baseline, and therefore are best described by microlensing events.