KMT-2016-BLG-2052L: Microlensing Binary Composed of M Dwarfs Revealed from a Very Long Time-scale Event
Abstract
We present the analysis of a binary microlensing event KMT-2016-BLG-2052, for which the lensing-induced brightening of the source star lasted for 2 seasons. We determine the lens mass from the combined measurements of the microlens parallax πe and angular Einstein radius θe. The measured mass indicates that the lens is a binary composed of M dwarfs with masses of M1 0.34~M and M2 0.17~M. The measured relative lens-source proper motion of μ 3.9~ mas~ yr-1 is smaller than 5~ mas~ yr-1 of typical Galactic lensing events, while the estimated angular Einstein radius of θe 1.2~ mas is substantially greater than the typical value of 0.5~ mas. Therefore, it turns out that the long time scale of the event is caused by the combination of the slow μ and large θe rather than the heavy mass of the lens. From the simulation of Galactic lensing events with very long time scales (t E 100 days), we find that the probabilities that long time-scale events are produced by lenses with masses ≥ 1.0~M and ≥ 3.0~M are 19\% and 2.6\%, respectively, indicating that events produced by heavy lenses comprise a minor fraction of long time-scale events. The results indicate that it is essential to determine lens masses by measuring both πe and θe in order to firmly identify heavy stellar remnants such as neutron stars and black holes.
Turn this paper into a lesson
ArcXiv compiles a structured reading guide from this paper's metadata: plain-English importance, contributions, prerequisite concepts, which sections to read first, flashcards, and a quiz. Grounded in the abstract, never invented.