Measurement of the Free-Floating Planet Mass Function with Simultaneous Euclid and WFIRST Microlensing Parallax Observations
Abstract
Free-floating planets are the remnants of violent dynamical rearrangements of planetary systems. It is possible that even our own solar system ejected a large planet early in its evolution. WFIRST will have the ability to detect free-floating planets over a wide range of masses, but it will not be able to directly measure their masses. Microlensing parallax observations can be used to measure the masses of isolated objects, including free-floating planets, by observing their microlensing events from two locations. The intra-L2 separation between WFIRST and Euclid is large enough to enable microlensing parallax measurements, especially given the exquisite photometric precision that both spacecraft are capable of over wide fields. In this white paper we describe how a modest investment of observing time could yield hundreds of parallax measurements for WFIRST's bound and free-floating planets. We also describe how a short observing campaign of precursor observations by Euclid can improve WFIRST's bound planet and host star mass measurements.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1903.08180,
title = {Measurement of the Free-Floating Planet Mass Function with Simultaneous Euclid and WFIRST Microlensing Parallax Observations},
author = {Matthew T. Penny and Etienne Bachelet and Samson Johnson and Jean-Phillipe Beaulieu and Eamonn Kerins and Jason Rhodes and Rachel Akeson and David Bennett and Charles Beichman and Aparna Bhattacharya and Valerio Bozza and Sebastiano Calchi Novati and B. Scott Gaudi and Calen B. Hendederson and Shude Mao and Radek Poleski and Clement Ranc and Kailash C. Sahu and Yossi Shvartzvald and Rachel Street},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1903.08180},
year = {2019}
}
Comments
Astro2020 White Paper