"Rare" Microlensing Events: how frequent are they? what can they teach us?
Abstract
Today's microlensing teams discover roughly 2000 candidate microlensing events per year. Many of these exhibit the standard point-source/point-lens form, and are caused by distant lenses we cannot detect. In our poster we report on the preliminary results of a long term program of analysis designed to identify and study "rare" gravitational lensing events. We have focused on those rare events with light curve profiles that differ from the point-source/point-lens form. These unusual light curves provide additional information about the lens or source. We devote special effort to the study of a small set of events that appear to have been caused by nearby lenses. Nearby lenses are interesting, whatever the form of the light curve they generate. We show that some unusual events are common enough that their systematic study can be scientifically fruitful, allowing lensing programs to identify nearby (closer than a kiloparsec) compact objects and measure their masses, and to also identify and measure masses in nearby planetary systems. We have developed methods that should prove useful in a wide range of ground-based and space-based lensing studies.
- Publication:
-
American Astronomical Society Meeting Abstracts #224
- Pub Date:
- June 2014
- Bibcode:
- 2014AAS...22412021D