AGAPEROS: Searches for microlensing in the LMC with the Pixel Method; 1, Data treatment and pixel light curves production

The presence and abundance of MAssive Compact Halo Objects (MACHOs) towards the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) can be studied with microlensing searches. The 10 events detected by the EROS and MACHO groups suggest that objects with 0.5 Mo could fill 50% of the dark halo. This preferred mass is quite surprising, and increasing the presently small statistics is a crucial issue. Additional microlensing of stars too dim to be resolved in crowded fields should be detectable using the Pixel Method. We present here an application of this method to the EROS 91-92 data (one tenth of the whole existing data set). We emphasize the data treatment required for monitoring pixel fluxes. Geometric and photometric alignments are performed on each image. Seeing correction and error estimates are discussed. 3.6" x 3.6" super-pixel light curves, thus produced, are very stable over the 120 days time-span. Fluctuations at a level of 1.8% of the flux in blue and 1.3% in red are measured on the pixel light curves. This level of stability is comparable with previous estimates. The data analysis dedicated to the search of possible microlensing events together with refined simulations will be presented in a companion paper.