English

KMT-2016-BLG-1337L: A Saturn-mass planet orbiting within a binary system of low-mass stars

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2026-02-16 v1 Astrophysics of Galaxies

Abstract

We report the discovery and characterization of a planetary companion in the microlensing event KMT-2016-BLG-1337, which was produced by a binary system of low-mass stars. The light curve of the event exhibits a short-term anomaly superposed on the profile of a binary-lens single-source (2L1S) model. To investigate the nature of this anomaly, we performed detailed modeling under both the binary-lens binary-source (2L2S) and triple-lens single-source (3L1S) interpretations. The 3L1S model provides a substantially better fit to the data, strongly favoring the presence of a planetary companion in the lens system. Two viable 3L1S3L1S solutions describe the event nearly equally well. In one solution, the planet has a mass of M30.3 MJM_3 \sim 0.3~M_{\mathrm{J}} and lies at a projected separation of a,34 aua_{\perp,3} \sim 4~{\rm au} from the heavier member of the host binary. In the alternative solution, the planet has a mass of M37 MJM_3 \sim 7~M_{\mathrm{J}} and a projected separation of a,31.5 aua_{\perp,3} \sim 1.5~{\rm au}. The host binary consists of early M-type dwarfs with masses of M10.54 MM_1 \sim 0.54~M_\odot and M20.40 MM_2 \sim 0.40~M_\odot, separated in projection by a,23.5 aua_{\perp,2} \sim 3.5~{\rm au}. The system is located at a distance of DL7 kpcD_{\rm L} \sim 7~{\rm kpc} toward the Galactic bulge. This event demonstrates the sensitivity of microlensing to planets in dynamically complex stellar environments, including systems beyond the reach of other detection techniques. It thereby contributes to a more comprehensive understanding of planet formation in multiple-star systems.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.12610,
  title  = {KMT-2016-BLG-1337L: A Saturn-mass planet orbiting within a binary system of low-mass stars},
  author = {Cheongho Han and Chung-Uk Lee and Ian A. Bond and Andrzej Udalski and Michael D. Albrow and Sun-Ju Chung and Andrew Gould and Youn Kil Jung and Kyu-Ha Hwang and Yoon-Hyun Ryu and Yossi Shvartzvald and In-Gu Shin and Jennifer C. Yee and Weicheng Zang and Hongjing Yang and Doeon Kim and Dong-Jin Kim and Sang-Mok Cha and Seung-Lee Kim and Dong-Joo Lee and Yongseok Lee and Byeong-Gon Park and Richard W. Pogge and Fumio Abe and David P. Bennett and Aparna Bhattacharya and Ryusei Hamada and Yuki Hirao and Asahi Idei and Stela Ishitani Silva and Shota Miyazaki and Yasushi Muraki and Tutumi Nagai and Kansuke Nunota and Greg Olmschenk and Clément Ranc and Nicholas J. Rattenbury and Yuki Satoh and Takahiro Sumi and Daisuke Suzuki and Takuto Tamaoki and Sean K. Terry and Paul J. Tristram and Aikaterini Vandorou and Hibiki Yama and Przemek Mróz and Michał K. Szymański and Jan Skowron and Radosław Poleski and Igor Soszyński and Paweł Pietrukowicz and Szymon Kozłowski and Krzysztof A. Rybicki and Patryk Iwanek and Krzysztof Ulaczyk and Marcin Wrona and Mariusz Gromadzki and Mateusz J. Mróz},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.12610},
  year   = {2026}
}

Comments

8 figures, 3 tables