Short-duration lensing events: II. Expectations and Protocols

Ongoing microlensing observations by OGLE and MOA regularly identify and conduct high-cadence sampling of lensing events with Einstein diameter crossing time, tau_E, of 16 or fewer days. Events with estimated values of tau_E of one to two days have been detected. Short duration events tend to be generated by low-mass lenses or by lenses with high transverse velocities. We compute the expected rates, demonstrate the expected ranges of parameters for lenses of different mass, and develop a protocol for observing and modeling short-duration events. Relatively minor additions to the procedures presently used will increase the rate of planet discovery, and also discover or place limits on the population of high-speed dim stars and stellar remnants in the vicinity of the Sun.Comment: 17 pages; 3 figures; submitted to ApJ 3 July 200

Spin-Up/Spin-Down models for Type Ia Supernovae

In the single degenerate scenario for Type Ia supernova (SNeIa), a white dwarf (WD) must gain a significant amount of matter from a companion star. Because the accreted mass carries angular momentum, the WD is likely to achieve fast spin periods, which can increase the critical mass, $M_{crit}$, needed for explosion. When $M_{crit}$ is higher than the maximum mass achieved by the WD, the WD must spin down before it can explode. This introduces a delay between the time at which the WD has completed its epoch of mass gain and the time of the explosion. Matter ejected from the binary during mass transfer therefore has a chance to become diffuse, and the explosion occurs in a medium with a density similar to that of typical regions of the interstellar medium. Also, either by the end of the WD's mass increase or else by the time of explosion, the donor may exhaust its stellar envelope and become a WD. This alters, generally diminishing, explosion signatures related to the donor star. Nevertheless, the spin-up/spin-down model is highly predictive. Prior to explosion, progenitors can be super-$M_{Ch}$ WDs in either wide binaries with WD companions, or else in cataclysmic variables. These systems can be discovered and studied through wide-field surveys. Post explosion, the spin-up/spin-down model predicts a population of fast-moving WDs, low-mass stars, and even brown dwarfs. In addition, the spin-up/spin-down model provides a paradigm which may be able to explain both the similarities and the diversity observed among SNeIa.Comment: Submitted to ApJ Letter

The Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae: II. Are they Double-Degenerate Binaries? The Symbiotic Channel

In order for a white dwarf (WD) to achieve the Chandrasekhar mass, M_C, and explode as a Type Ia supernova (SNIa), it must interact with another star, either accreting matter from or merging with it. The failure to identify the types of binaries which produce SNeIa is the "progenitor problem". Its solution is required if we are to utilize the full potential of SNeIa to elucidate basic cosmological and physical principles. In single-degenerate models, a WD accretes and burns matter at high rates. Nuclear-burning WDs (NBWDs) with mass close to M_C are hot and luminous, potentially detectable as supersoft x-ray sources (SSSs). In previous work we showed that > 90-99% of the required number of progenitors do not appear as SSSs during most of the crucial phase of mass increase. The obvious implication is that double-degenerate (DD) binaries form the main class of progenitors. We show in this paper, however, that many binaries that later become DDs must pass through a long-lived NBWD phase during which they are potentially detectable as SSSs. The paucity of SSSs is therefore not a strong argument in favor of DD models. Those NBWDs that are the progenitors of DD binaries are likely to appear as symbiotic binaries for intervals > 10^6 years. In fact, symbiotic pre-DDs should be common, whether or not the WDs eventually produce SNeIa. The key to solving the progenitor problem lies in understanding the appearance of NBWDs. Most do not appear as SSSs most of the time. We therefore consider the evolution of NBWDs to address the question of what their appearance may be and how we can hope to detect them.Comment: 24 pages; 5 figures; submitted to Ap

The Progenitors of Type Ia Supernovae: Are They Supersoft Sources?

In a canonical model, the progenitors of Type Ia supernovae (SNe Ia) are accreting, nuclear-burning white dwarfs (NBWDs), which explode when the white dwarf reaches the Chandrasekhar mass, M_C. Such massive NBWDs are hot (kT ~100 eV), luminous (L ~ 10^{38} erg/s), and are potentially observable as luminous supersoft X-ray sources (SSSs). During the past several years, surveys for soft X-ray sources in external galaxies have been conducted. This paper shows that the results falsify the hypothesis that a large fraction of progenitors are NBWDs which are presently observable as SSSs. The data also place limits on sub-M_C models. While Type Ia supernova progenitors may pass through one or more phases of SSS activity, these phases are far shorter than the time needed to accrete most of the matter that brings them close to M_C.Comment: submitted to ApJ 18 November 2009; 17 pages, 2 figure

Populations of Supersoft X-ray Sources: Novae, tidal disruption, Type Ia supernovae, accretion-induced collapse, ionization, and intermediate-mass black holes?

Observations of hundreds of supersoft x-ray sources (SSSs) in external galaxies have shed light on the diversity of the class and on the natures of the sources. SSSs are linked to the physics of Type Ia supernovae and accretion-induced collapse, ultraluminous x-ray sources and black holes, the ionization of the interstellar medium, and tidal disruption by supermassive black holes. The class of SSSs has an extension to higher luminosities: ultraluminous SSSs have luminosities above 10^39 erg/s. There is also an extension to higher energies: quasisoft x-ray sources (QSSs) emit photons with energies above 1 eV, but few or none with energies above 2 keV. Finally, a significant fraction of the SSSs found in external galaxies switch states between observations, becoming either quasisoft or hard. For many systems ``supersoft'' refers to a temporary state; SSSs are sources, possibly including a variety of fundamentally different system types, that pass through such a state. We review those results derived from extragalactic data and related theoretical work that are most surprising and that suggest directions for future research.Comment: submitted to Astron.Nachr.; latex, 6 figure

Discovering habitable Earths, hot Jupiters and other close planets with microlensing

Searches for planets via gravitational lensing have focused on cases in which the projected separation, a, between planet and star is comparable to the Einstein radius, R_E. This paper considers smaller orbital separations and demonstrates that evidence of close-orbit planets can be found in the low-magnification portion of the light curves generated by the central star. We develop a protocol to discover hot Jupiters as well as Neptune-mass and Earth-mass planets in the stellar habitable zone. When planets are not discovered, our method can be used to quantify the probability that the lens star does not have planets within specified ranges of the orbital separation and mass ratio. Nearby close-orbit planets discovered by lensing can be subject to follow-up observations to study the newly-discovered planets or to discover other planets orbiting the same star. Careful study of the low-magnification portions of lensing light curves should produce, in addition to the discoveries of close-orbit planets, definite detections of wide-orbit planets through the discovery of "repeating" lensing events. We show that events exhibiting extremely high magnification can effectively be probed for planets in close, intermediate, and wide distance regimes simply by adding several-time-per-night monitoring in the low-magnification wings, possibly leading to gravitational lensing discoveries of multiple planets occupying a broad range of orbits, from close to wide, in a single planetary system.Comment: 21 pages, 5 figures, submitted to the Astrophysical Journa