Three-dimensional microlensing

We study three-dimensional microlensing where two lenses are located at different distances along the line of sight. We formulate the lens equation in complex notations and recover several previous results. There are in total either four or six images, with an equal number of images with positive an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 2014-01, Vol.437 (2), p.1554-1560
Main Authors: Mao, Shude, Witt, Hans J., An, Jin H.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Cosmology
Optics
Probability
Space telescopes
Three dimensional imaging
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Summary:We study three-dimensional microlensing where two lenses are located at different distances along the line of sight. We formulate the lens equation in complex notations and recover several previous results. There are in total either four or six images, with an equal number of images with positive and negative parities. We find that the sum of signed magnifications for six-image configurations is unity. Furthermore, we show that the light curves can be qualitatively different from those for binary lensing in a single plane. In particular, the magnifications between a 'U'-shaped caustic crossing can be close to unity, rather than having a minimum magnification of 3 as in the single-plane binary lensing. There is only a small probability that three-dimensional microlensing events will be seen in microlensing towards the Galactic Centre. It is more likely that they will be first seen in cosmological microlensing.
ISSN:0035-8711
1365-2966
DOI:10.1093/mnras/stt1988