Object DUO 2: A New Binary Lens Candidate

We present the light curve of an unusual variable object, DUO 2, detected during the search for microlensing events by the DUO project. The star remained stable for more than 150 days before it brightened by more than two magnitudes in 6 days in the B and R bands. The light curves are achromatic during the variability. We consider possible explanations of the photometric behavior, with particular emphasis on the binary lens interpretation of the event. The masses of the lenses are quite small, with the companion possibly in the range of a brown dwarf or even a few times of Jupiter. We report evidence of blending of the source by a companion through the first detection of shift in the light centroid among all the microlensing experiments. This shift sets a lower limit of $0.3^{\prime\prime}$ on the separation between the stars. The best lens model obtained requires moderate blending, which was what motivated us to check the centroid shift that was subsequently found. The best lens model predicts a separation of $1^{\prime\prime}$ between the two blended stars. This prediction was recently tested using two CCD images taken under good seeing conditions. Both images show two components. Their separation and position angle are in good agreement with our model.Comment: uuencoded, compressed PostScript, 4 pages, 4 figures (in text). Accepted for publication in Astronomy and Astrophysics Letter

Radiative and leptonic decays of the pseudoscalar charmonium state ηc\eta_c

The radiative and leptonic decays of $\eta_c\to \gamma\gamma$ and $\eta_c\to l^+l^-$ are studied. For $\eta_c\to \gamma\gamma$ decay, the second-order electromagnetic tree-level diagram gives the leading contribution. The decay rate of $\eta_c\to \gamma\gamma$ is calculated, the prediction is in good agreement with the experimental data. For \eta_c\to l^+\l^-, both the tree and loop diagrams are calculated. The analysis shows that the loop contribution dominates, the contribution of tree diagram with $Z^0$ intermediate state can only modifies the decay rate by less than 1%. The prediction of the branching ratios of $\eta_c\to e^+e^-$ and $\mu^+\mu^-$ are very tiny within the standard model. The smallness of these predictions within the standard model makes the leptonic decays of $\eta_c$ sensitive to physics beyond the standard model. Measurement of the leptonic decay may give information of new physics.Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, RevTex, small change, version to appear in Phys. Rev.

A New Photometric Model of the Galactic Bar using Red Clump Giants

We present a study of the luminosity density distribution of the Galactic bar using number counts of red clump giants (RCGs) from the OGLE-III survey. The data were recently published by Nataf et al. (2013) for 9019 fields towards the bulge and have $2.94\times 10^6$ RC stars over a viewing area of $90.25 \,\textrm{deg}^2$. The data include the number counts, mean distance modulus ($\mu$), dispersion in $\mu$ and full error matrix, from which we fit the data with several tri-axial parametric models. We use the Markov Chain Monte Carlo (MCMC) method to explore the parameter space and find that the best-fit model is the $E_3$ model, with the distance to the GC is 8.13 kpc, the ratio of semi-major and semi-minor bar axis scale lengths in the Galactic plane $x_{0},y_{0}$, and vertical bar scale length $z_0$, is $x_0:y_0:z_0 \approx 1.00:0.43:0.40$ (close to being prolate). The scale length of the stellar density profile along the bar's major axis is $\sim$ 0.67 kpc and has an angle of $29.4^\circ$, slightly larger than the value obtained from a similar study based on OGLE-II data. The number of estimated RC stars within the field of view is $2.78 \times 10^6$, which is systematically lower than the observed value. We subtract the smooth parametric model from the observed counts and find that the residuals are consistent with the presence of an X-shaped structure in the Galactic centre, the excess to the estimated mass content is $\sim 5.8$. We estimate the total mass of the bar is $\sim 1.8 \times 10^{10} M_\odot$. Our results can be used as a key ingredient to construct new density models of the Milky Way and will have implications on the predictions of the optical depth to gravitational microlensing and the patterns of hydrodynamical gas flow in the Milky Way.Comment: 15 pages, 6 figures, 4 tables. MNRAS accepte