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In the pursuit of understanding the population of stellar remnants within the Milky Way, we analyze the sample of ∼950 microlensing events observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope between 2014 and 2019. In this study we focus on a subsample of nine microlensing events, selected based on their long timescales, small microlensing parallaxes, and joint observations by the Gaia mission, to increase the probability that the chosen lenses are massive and the mass is measurable. Among the selected events we identify lensing black holes and neutron star candidates, with potential confirmation through forthcoming release of the Gaia time-series astrometry in 2026. Utilizing Bayesian analysis and Galactic models, along with the Gaia Data Release 3 proper-motion data, four good candidates for dark remnants were identified: OGLE-2016-BLG-0293, OGLE-2018-BLG-0483, OGLE-2018-BLG-0662, and OGLE-2015-BLG-0149, with lens masses of ${3.0}_{-1.3}^{+1.8}\,{M}_{\odot }$ , ${4.7}_{-2.1}^{+3.2}\,{M}_{\odot }$ , ${3.15}_{-0.64}^{+0.66}\,{M}_{\odot }$ and ${1.40}_{-0.55}^{+0.75}\,{M}_{\odot }$ , respectively. Notably, the first two candidates are expected to exhibit astrometric microlensing signals detectable by Gaia, offering the prospect of validating the lens masses. The methodologies developed in this work will be applied to the full Spitzer microlensing sample, populating and analyzing the timescale ( t _E ) versus parallax ( π _E ) diagram to derive constraints on the population of lenses in general and massive remnants in particular.

We present the analysis of the microlensing event OGLE-2014-BLG-0221, a planetary candidate event discovered in 2014. The photometric light curve is best described by a binary-lens single-source model. Our light-curve modeling finds two degenerate models, with event timescales of t _E ∼ 70 days and ∼110 days. These timescales are relatively long, indicating that the discovered system would possess a substantial mass. The two models are similar in their planetary parameters with a Jupiter mass ratio of q ∼ 10 ^−3 and a separation of s ∼ 1.1. Bayesian inference is used to estimate the physical parameters of the lens, revealing that the shorter timescale model predicts 65% and 25% probabilities of a late-type star and white dwarf host, respectively, while the longer timescale model favors a black hole host with a probability ranging from 60% to 95%, under the assumption that stars and stellar remnants have equal probabilities of hosting companions with planetary mass ratios. If the lens is a remnant, this would be the second planet found by microlensing around a stellar remnant. The current separation between the source and lens stars is 41–139 mas depending on the models. This indicates the event is now ready for high-angular-resolution follow-up observations to rule out either of the models. If precise astrometric measurements are conducted in multiple bands, the centroid shift due to the color difference between the source and lens would be detected in the luminous lens scenario.

We present an analysis of microlensing event OGLE-2019-BLG-0825. This event was identified as a planetary candidate by preliminary modeling. We find that significant residuals from the best-fit static binary-lens model exist and a xallarap effect can fit the residuals very well and significantly improves χ ^2 values. On the other hand, by including the xallarap effect in our models, we find that binary-lens parameters such as mass ratio, q , and separation, s , cannot be constrained well. However, we also find that the parameters for the source system such as the orbital period and semimajor axis are consistent between all the models we analyzed. We therefore constrain the properties of the source system better than the properties of the lens system. The source system comprises a G-type main-sequence star orbited by a brown dwarf with a period of P ∼ 5 days. This analysis is the first to demonstrate that the xallarap effect does affect binary-lens parameters in planetary events. It would not be common for the presence or absence of the xallarap effect to affect lens parameters in events with long orbital periods of the source system or events with transits to caustics, but in other cases, such as this event, the xallarap effect can affect binary-lens parameters.

Using the HST/ACS IF814W-band data, we investigated the distribution of apparent axial ratios of ∼21,000 galaxies with MV < −20 at 0.2 < z < 1.0 in the COSMOS field as a function of stellar mass, specific star formation rate (sSFR), and redshift. We statistically estimated intrinsic 3D shapes of these galaxies by fitting the axial-ratio distribution with triaxial ellipsoid models characterized by face-on (middle-to-long) and edge-on (short-to-long) axial ratios B/A and C/A. We found that the transition from thin disk to thick spheroid occurs at ΔMS ∼ −1 dex, i.e., 10 times lower sSFR than that of the main sequence for galaxies with Mstar = 1010–1011M⊙ at 0.2 < z < 1.0. Furthermore, the intrinsic thickness (C/A) of passively evolving galaxies with Mstar = 1010–1011M⊙ significantly decreases with time from C/A ∼ 0.40–0.50 at z ∼ 0.8 to C/A ∼ 0.33–0.37 at z ∼ 0.4, while those galaxies with Mstar > 1011M⊙ have C/A ∼ 0.5 irrespective of redshift. On the other hand, star-forming galaxies on the main sequence with 109.5–1011M⊙ show no significant evolution in their shape at 0.2 < z < 1.0, but their thickness depends on stellar mass; more massive star-forming galaxies tend to have lower C/A (thinner shape) than low-mass ones. These results suggest that some fraction of star-forming galaxies with a thin disk, which started to appear around z ∼ 1, quench their star formation without violent morphological change, and these newly added quiescent galaxies with a relatively thin shape cause the significant evolution in the axial-ratio distribution of passively evolving galaxies with Mstar < 1011M⊙ at z < 1. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]