A Fast Concentric-disk Contour Integration Method For Microlensing Limb-darkening Effect
Abstract
Incorporating limb darkening is a computationally demanding step in contour-integration-based microlensing modeling. Conventional concentric-ring integration is incompatible with high-order quadrature schemes, limiting efficiency. We develop a new concentric-disk method, which reformulates the limb-darkening integral and enables the application of high-order adaptive quadrature, significantly accelerating the computation. While mainly demonstrated using a linear limb-darkening profile, the method readily extends to more general limb-darkening profiles. As a source effect, it applies to lens systems of any complexity. The method achieves a convergence rate scaling faster than Nuni-4 with the number of uniform-source magnification evaluations Nuni, a significant improvement over the concentric-ring Nuni-2 scaling. For a relative accuracy of 10-6, the concentric-disk approach typically requires only 30\% or less of the computational cost of traditional algorithms. This method has been implemented in the binary-lens contour integration code Twinkle, providing an efficient and precise tool for analyzing current and future high-precision microlensing observations.
Turn this paper into a full lesson
ArcXiv compiles a staged curriculum from this paper: 8-12 lessons across beginner → advanced, synthesised section guides, visuals, flashcards, a quiz, exercises, and on-demand deep dives per section. Grounded in the abstract, never invented.