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Title: OGLE-2012-BLG-0455/MOA-2012-BLG-206: Microlensing event with ambiguity in planetary interpretations caused by incomplete coverage of planetary signal

Abstract

Characterizing a microlensing planet is done by modeling an observed lensing light curve. In this process, it is often confronted that solutions of different lensing parameters result in similar light curves, causing difficulties in uniquely interpreting the lens system, and thus understanding the causes of different types of degeneracy is important. In this work, we show that incomplete coverage of a planetary perturbation can result in degenerate solutions even for events where the planetary signal is detected with a high level of statistical significance. We demonstrate the degeneracy for an actually observed event OGLE-2012-BLG-0455/MOA-2012-BLG-206. The peak of this high-magnification event (A {sub max} ∼ 400) exhibits very strong deviation from a point-lens model with Δχ{sup 2} ≳ 4000 for data sets with a total of 6963 measurements. From detailed modeling of the light curve, we find that the deviation can be explained by four distinct solutions, i.e., two very different sets of solutions, each with a twofold degeneracy. While the twofold (so-called close/wide) degeneracy is well understood, the degeneracy between the radically different solutions is not previously known. The model light curves of this degeneracy differ substantially in the parts that were not covered by observation, indicating that the degeneracymore » is caused by the incomplete coverage of the perturbation. It is expected that the frequency of the degeneracy introduced in this work will be greatly reduced with the improvement of the current lensing survey and follow-up experiments and the advent of new surveys.« less

Authors:
; ; ; ; ;  [1]; ; ; ;  [2];  [3];  [4];  [5]; ; ;  [6];  [7];  [8];  [9];  [10] more »; « less
  1. Department of Physics, Institute for Astrophysics, Chungbuk National University, Cheongju 371-763 (Korea, Republic of)
  2. Department of Astronomy, The Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210 (United States)
  3. Warsaw University Observatory, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa (Poland)
  4. Department of Earth and Space Science, Osaka University, Osaka 560-0043 (Japan)
  5. IRAP, CNRS, Université de Toulouse, F-31400 Toulouse (France)
  6. Auckland Observatory, Auckland (New Zealand)
  7. Department of Physics and Astronomy, Texas A and M University, College Station, TX 77843 (United States)
  8. Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Peking University, Yi He Yuan Road 5, Hai Dian District, Beijing 100871 (China)
  9. Korea Astronomy and Space Science Institute, 776 Daedukdae-ro, Yuseong-gu, Daejeon 305-348 (Korea, Republic of)
  10. Kleinkaroo Observatory, Calitzdorp, and Bronberg Observatory, Pretoria (South Africa)
Publication Date:
OSTI Identifier:
22356836
Resource Type:
Journal Article
Journal Name:
Astrophysical Journal
Additional Journal Information:
Journal Volume: 787; Journal Issue: 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); Journal ID: ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English
Subject:
79 ASTROPHYSICS, COSMOLOGY AND ASTRONOMY; DISTURBANCES; GRAVITATIONAL LENSES; PERTURBATION THEORY; PLANETS; SATELLITES; SIMULATION; VISIBLE RADIATION

Citation Formats

Park, H., Han, C., Choi, J. -Y., Hwang, K. -H., Jung, Y. K., Shin, I. -G., Gould, A., Gaudi, B. S., Kavka, A., Pogge, R. W., Udalski, A., Sumi, T., Fouqué, P., Christie, G., Natusch, T., Ngan, H., Depoy, D. L., Dong, Subo, Lee, C. -U., Monard, L. A. G., Collaboration: μFUN Collaboration, OGLE Collaboration, MOA Collaboration, and others, and. OGLE-2012-BLG-0455/MOA-2012-BLG-206: Microlensing event with ambiguity in planetary interpretations caused by incomplete coverage of planetary signal. United States: N. p., 2014. Web. doi:10.1088/0004-637X/787/1/71.
Park, H., Han, C., Choi, J. -Y., Hwang, K. -H., Jung, Y. K., Shin, I. -G., Gould, A., Gaudi, B. S., Kavka, A., Pogge, R. W., Udalski, A., Sumi, T., Fouqué, P., Christie, G., Natusch, T., Ngan, H., Depoy, D. L., Dong, Subo, Lee, C. -U., Monard, L. A. G., Collaboration: μFUN Collaboration, OGLE Collaboration, MOA Collaboration, & others, and. OGLE-2012-BLG-0455/MOA-2012-BLG-206: Microlensing event with ambiguity in planetary interpretations caused by incomplete coverage of planetary signal. United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/787/1/71
Park, H., Han, C., Choi, J. -Y., Hwang, K. -H., Jung, Y. K., Shin, I. -G., Gould, A., Gaudi, B. S., Kavka, A., Pogge, R. W., Udalski, A., Sumi, T., Fouqué, P., Christie, G., Natusch, T., Ngan, H., Depoy, D. L., Dong, Subo, Lee, C. -U., Monard, L. A. G., Collaboration: μFUN Collaboration, OGLE Collaboration, MOA Collaboration, and others, and. 2014. "OGLE-2012-BLG-0455/MOA-2012-BLG-206: Microlensing event with ambiguity in planetary interpretations caused by incomplete coverage of planetary signal". United States. https://doi.org/10.1088/0004-637X/787/1/71.
@article{osti_22356836,
title = {OGLE-2012-BLG-0455/MOA-2012-BLG-206: Microlensing event with ambiguity in planetary interpretations caused by incomplete coverage of planetary signal},
author = {Park, H. and Han, C. and Choi, J. -Y. and Hwang, K. -H. and Jung, Y. K. and Shin, I. -G. and Gould, A. and Gaudi, B. S. and Kavka, A. and Pogge, R. W. and Udalski, A. and Sumi, T. and Fouqué, P. and Christie, G. and Natusch, T. and Ngan, H. and Depoy, D. L. and Dong, Subo and Lee, C. -U. and Monard, L. A. G. and Collaboration: μFUN Collaboration and OGLE Collaboration and MOA Collaboration and others, and},
abstractNote = {Characterizing a microlensing planet is done by modeling an observed lensing light curve. In this process, it is often confronted that solutions of different lensing parameters result in similar light curves, causing difficulties in uniquely interpreting the lens system, and thus understanding the causes of different types of degeneracy is important. In this work, we show that incomplete coverage of a planetary perturbation can result in degenerate solutions even for events where the planetary signal is detected with a high level of statistical significance. We demonstrate the degeneracy for an actually observed event OGLE-2012-BLG-0455/MOA-2012-BLG-206. The peak of this high-magnification event (A {sub max} ∼ 400) exhibits very strong deviation from a point-lens model with Δχ{sup 2} ≳ 4000 for data sets with a total of 6963 measurements. From detailed modeling of the light curve, we find that the deviation can be explained by four distinct solutions, i.e., two very different sets of solutions, each with a twofold degeneracy. While the twofold (so-called close/wide) degeneracy is well understood, the degeneracy between the radically different solutions is not previously known. The model light curves of this degeneracy differ substantially in the parts that were not covered by observation, indicating that the degeneracy is caused by the incomplete coverage of the perturbation. It is expected that the frequency of the degeneracy introduced in this work will be greatly reduced with the improvement of the current lensing survey and follow-up experiments and the advent of new surveys.},
doi = {10.1088/0004-637X/787/1/71},
url = {https://www.osti.gov/biblio/22356836}, journal = {Astrophysical Journal},
issn = {0004-637X},
number = 1,
volume = 787,
place = {United States},
year = {Tue May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2014},
month = {Tue May 20 00:00:00 EDT 2014}
}