Microlensing light curves: a new and efficient numerical method.
Abstract
When a source of constant luminosity moves behind a gravitational lens composed of compact objects, its flux is observed to change due to the varying amplification of the images produced by different components of the lens. A new method is presented to calculate such microlensed light curves for any given field of point masses. The method is sufficiently efficient and fast to allow one to calculate any desired statistical property of the light curves for a large number of models in a reasonable time, with present computers. We compare the light curves generated by this method with those produced by the ray-shooting method, and find good agreement.
- Publication:
-
Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society
- Pub Date:
- April 1993
- DOI:
- 10.1093/mnras/261.3.647
- Bibcode:
- 1993MNRAS.261..647L
- Keywords:
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- Computational Astrophysics;
- Gravitational Lenses;
- Light Curve;
- Astronomical Models;
- Luminosity;
- Astrophysics