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Interpretation of a short-term anomaly in the gravitational microlensing event MOA-2012-BLG-486

Version 2 2025-01-15, 00:59
Version 1 2023-05-17, 21:56
journal contribution
posted on 2025-01-15, 00:59 authored by K-H Hwang, J-Y Choi, IA Bond, T Sumi, C Han, BS Gaudi, A Gould, V Bozza, Jean-Philippe BeaulieuJean-Philippe Beaulieu, Y Tsapras, F Abe, DP Bennett, CS Botzler, P Chote, M Freeman, A Fukui, D Fukunaga, P Harris, Y Itow, N Koshimoto, CH Ling, K Masuda, Y Matsubara, Y Muraki, S Namba, K Ohnishi, NJ Rattenbury, T Saito, DJ Sullivan, WL Sweatman, D Suzuki, PJ Tristram, K Wada, N Yamai, PCM Yock, A Yonehara, L Andrade de Almeida, DL DePoy, S Dong, F Jablonski, YK Jung, A Kavka, C-U Lee, H Park, RW Pogge, I-G Shin, JC Yee, MD Albrow, E Bachelet, V Batista, S Brillant, JAR Caldwell, A Cassan, Andrew ColeAndrew Cole, E Corrales, C Coutures, S Dieters, D Dominis Prester, J Donatowicz, P Fouque, J Greenhill, UG Jorgensen, SR Kane, D Kubas, J-B Marquette, R Martin, P Meintjes, J Menzies, KR Pollard, A Williams, D Wouters, DM Bramich, M Dominik, K Horne, P Browne, M Hundertmark, S Ipatov, N Kains, C Snodgrass, IA Steele, RA Street
A planetary microlensing signal is generally characterized by a short-term perturbation to the standard single lensing light curve. A subset of binary-source events can produce perturbations that mimic planetary signals, thereby introducing an ambiguity between the planetary and binary-source interpretations. In this paper, we present the analysis of the microlensing event MOA-2012-BLG-486, for which the light curve exhibits a short-lived perturbation. Routine modeling not considering data taken in different passbands yields a best-fit planetary model that is slightly preferred over the best-fit binary-source model. However, when allowed for a change in the color during the perturbation, we find that the binary-source model yields a significantly better fit and thus the degeneracy is clearly resolved. This event not only signifies the importance of considering various interpretations of short-term anomalies, but also demonstrates the importance of multi-band data for checking the possibility of false-positive planetary signals.

History

Publication title

Astrophysical Journal

Volume

778

Issue

1

Article number

55

Number

55

Pagination

1-6

ISSN

0004-637X

Department/School

School of Natural Sciences, Physics

Publisher

IOP Publishing

Publication status

  • Published

Place of publication

190 N. Independence Mall West, Suite 601, Phil.

Rights statement

Copyright 2013 The American Astronomical Society

Socio-economic Objectives

280120 Expanding knowledge in the physical sciences

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