2,416 research outputs found
Simulating the Role of Stellar Rotation in the Spectroscopic Effects of Differential Limb Magnification
Finite-source effects of gravitationally microlensed stars have been well
discussed in the literature, but the role that stellar rotation plays has been
neglected. A differential magnification map applied to a differentially
Doppler-shifted surface alters the profiles of absorption lines, compromising
their ordinarily symmetric nature. Herein, we assess the degree to which this
finite-source effect of differential limb magnification (DLM), in combination
with stellar rotation, alters spectroscopically derived stellar properties. To
achieve this, we simulated a grid of high-magnification microlensing events
using synthetic spectra. Our analysis shows that rotation of the source
generates differences in the measured equivalent widths of absorption lines
supplementary to DLM alone, but only of the order of a few percent. Using the
wings of H alpha from the same simulated data, we confirmed the result of
Johnson et al. (2010) that DLM alters measurements of effective temperature by
< 100 K for dwarf stars, while showing rotation to bear no additional effect.Comment: Accepted for publication in PASA, 7 pages, 5 figures, 1 tabl
The Frequency and Mass-Ratio Distribution of Binaries in Clusters I: Description of the method and application to M67
We present a new method for probabilistic generative modelling of stellar
colour-magnitude diagrams (CMDs) to infer the frequency of binary stars and
their mass-ratio distribution. The method invokes a mixture model to account
for overlapping populations of single stars, binaries and outliers in the CMD.
We apply the model to Gaia observations of the old open cluster, M67, and find
a frequency for binary stars with mass ratio
greater than 0.5. The form of the mass-ratio distribution function rises
towards higher mass ratios for .Comment: 9 pages, 6 figures, accepted by MNRA
Early Estimation of Microlensing Event Magnifications
Gravitational microlensing events with high peak magnifications provide a
much enhanced sensitivity to the detection of planets around the lens star.
However, estimates of peak magnification during the early stages of an event by
means of chi^2 minimization frequently involve an overprediction, making
observing campaigns with strategies that rely on these predictions inefficient.
I show that a rudimentary Bayesian formulation, incorporating the known
statistical characteristics of a detection system, produces much more accurate
predictions of peak magnification than chi^2 minimisation. Implementation of
this system will allow efficient follow-up observing programs that focus solely
on events that contribute to planetary abundance statistics.Comment: Accepted by ApJ. 19 pages, incl 7 figures and 2 table
Search full text options here 2 of 4 KMT-2021-BLG-0912Lb: a microlensing super Earth around a K-type star
Aims. The light curve of the microlensing event KMT-2021-BLG-0912 exhibits a very short anomaly relative to a single-lens single-source form. We investigate the light curve for the purpose of identifying the origin of the anomaly.
Methods. We model the light curve under various interpretations. From this, we find four solutions, in which three solutions are found under the assumption that the lens is composed of two masses (2L1S models), and the other solution is found under the assumption that the source is comprised of binary stars (1L2S model). The 1L2S model is ruled out based on the contradiction that the faint source companion is bigger than its primary, and one of the 2L1S solutions is excluded from the combination of the poorer fit, blending constraint, and lower overall probability, leaving two surviving solutions with the planet/host mass ratios of q similar to 2.8 x 10(-5) and similar to 1.1 x 10(-5). A subtle central deviation supports the possibility of a tertiary lens component, either a binary companion to the host with a very large or small separation, or a second planet lying near the Einstein ring, but it is difficult to claim a secure detection due to the marginal improvement of the fit, lack of consistency among different data sets, and difficulty in uniquely specifying the nature of the tertiary component.
Results. With the observables of the event, it is estimated that the masses of the planet and host are similar to(6.9 M-circle plus, 0.75 M-circle dot) according to one solution and similar to(2.8 M-circle plus, 0.80 M-circle dot) according to the other, indicating that the planet is a super Earth around a K-type star, regardless of the solution. The fact that 16 (including the one reported in this work) out of 19 microlensing planets with M less than or similar to 10 M-circle plus were detected during the last 6 yr nicely demonstrates the importance of high-cadence global surveys in detecting very low-mass planets
The Frequency of Binary Stars in the Core of 47 Tucanae
Differential time series photometry has been derived for 46422 main-sequence
stars in the core of 47 Tucanae. The observations consisted of near-continuous
160-s exposures alternating between the F555W and F814W filters for 8.3 days in
1999 July with WFPC2 on the Hubble Space Telescope. Using Fourier and other
search methods, eleven detached eclipsing binaries and fifteen W UMa stars have
been discovered, plus an additional ten contact or near-contact non-eclipsing
systems. After correction for non-uniform area coverage of the survey, the
observed frequencies of detached eclipsing binaries and W UMa's within 90
arcseconds of the cluster center are 0.022% and 0.031% respectively. The
observed detached eclipsing binary frequency, the assumptions of a flat binary
distribution with log period and that the eclipsing binaries with periods
longer than about 4 days have essentially their primordial periods, imply an
overall binary frequency of 13 +/- 6 %. The observed W UMa frequency and the
additional assumptions that W UMa's have been brought to contact according to
tidal circularization and angular momentum loss theory and that the contact
binary lifetime is 10^{9} years, imply an overall binary frequency of 14 +/- 4
%. An additional 71 variables with periods from 0.4 - 10 days have been found
which are likely to be BY Draconis stars in binary systems. The radial
distribution of these stars is the same as that of the eclipsing binaries and W
UMa stars and is more centrally concentrated than average stars, but less so
than the blue straggler stars. A distinct subset of six of these stars fall in
an unexpected domain of the CMD, comprising what we propose to call red
stragglers.Comment: Accepted for publication in the Astrophysical Journal, 65 pages
including 26 figure
KMT-2016-BLG-1107: A New Hollywood-Planet Close/Wide Degeneracy
We show that microlensing event KMT-2016-BLG-1107 displays a new type of
degeneracy between wide-binary and close-binary Hollywood events in which a
giant-star source envelops the planetary caustic. The planetary anomaly takes
the form of a smooth, two-day "bump" far out on the falling wing of the light
curve, which can be interpreted either as the source completely enveloping a
minor-image caustic due to a close companion with mass ratio , or
partially enveloping a major-image caustic due to a wide companion with
. The best estimates of the companion masses are both in the planetary
regime ( and ) but differ by an even larger factor than the mass ratios due to
different inferred host masses. We show that the two solutions can be
distinguished by high-resolution imaging at first light on next-generation
("30m") telescopes. We provide analytic guidance to understand the conditions
under which this new type of degeneracy can appear.Comment: 23 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in A
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