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Title: A NEW NONPLANETARY INTERPRETATION OF THE MICROLENSING EVENT OGLE-2013-BLG-0723

Journal Article · · Astrophysical Journal
;  [1];  [2];  [3]
  1. Department of Physics, Institute for Astrophysics, Chungbuk National University, 371-763 Cheongju (Korea, Republic of)
  2. Code 667, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771 (United States)
  3. Warsaw University Observatory, Al. Ujazdowskie 4, 00-478 Warszawa (Poland)

Recently, the discovery of a Venus-mass planet orbiting a brown-dwarf host in a binary system was reported from the analysis of the microlensing event OGLE-2013-BLG-0723. We reanalyze the event considering the possibility of other interpretations. From this, we find a new solution where the lens is composed of two bodies, in contrast to the three-body solution of the previous analysis. The new solution better explains the observed light curve than the previous solution with Δ χ {sup 2} ∼ 202, suggesting that the new solution is a correct model for the event. From the estimation of the physical parameters based on the new interpretation, we find that the lens system is composed of two low-mass stars with ∼0.2 M {sub ⊙} and ∼0.1 M {sub ⊙} and located at a distance of ∼3 kpc. The fact that the physical parameters correspond to those of the most common lens population located at a distance with a large lensing probability further supports the likelihood of the new interpretation. Considering that two dramatically different solutions can approximately explain the observed light curve, the event suggests the need for carefully testing all possible lens-system geometries.

OSTI ID:
22666128
Journal Information:
Astrophysical Journal, Vol. 825, Issue 1; Other Information: Country of input: International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); ISSN 0004-637X
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English