Extending the planetary mass function to Earth mass by microlensing at moderately high magnification

A measurement by microlensing of the planetary mass function of planets with masses ranging from 5 M⊕ to 10 M J and orbital radii from 0.5 to 10 au was reported recently. A strategy for extending the mass range down to (1-3) M⊕ is proposed here. This entails monitoring the peaks of a few tens of mic...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2013-06, Vol.431 (4), p.2975-2985
Main Authors: Abe, Fumio, Airey, Charlotte, Barnard, Ellen, Baudry, Julie, Botzler, Christine, Douchin, Dimitri, Freeman, Matthew, Larsen, Patricia, Niemiec, Anna, Perrott, Yvette, Philpott, Lydia, Rattenbury, Nicholas, Yock, Philip
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Earth
Measurement
Orbits
Space telescopes
Star & galaxy formation
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Summary:A measurement by microlensing of the planetary mass function of planets with masses ranging from 5 M⊕ to 10 M J and orbital radii from 0.5 to 10 au was reported recently. A strategy for extending the mass range down to (1-3) M⊕ is proposed here. This entails monitoring the peaks of a few tens of microlensing events with moderately high magnifications with 1-2 m class telescopes. Planets of a few Earth masses are found to produce deviations of ∼5 per cent to the peaks of microlensing light curves with durations ∼(0.7-3) hr in events with magnification ∼100 if the projected separation of the planet lies in the annular region (0.85-1.2)r E. Similar deviations are produced by Earth mass planets in the annular region (0.95-1.05)r E. It is possible that sub-Earths could be detected very close to the Einstein ring if they are sufficiently abundant, and also planetary systems with more than one low-mass planet.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stt318