MOA-2015-BLG-337: A Planetary System with a Low-mass Brown Dwarf/Planetary Boundary Host, or a Brown Dwarf Binary
Abstract
We report the discovery and the analysis of the short timescale binary-lens microlensing event, MOA-2015-BLG-337. The lens system could be a planetary system with a very low mass host, around the brown dwarf/planetary mass boundary, or a brown dwarf binary. We found two competing models that explain the observed light curves with companion/host mass ratios of q~0.01 and ~0.17, respectively. From the measurement of finite source effects in the best-fit planetary model, we find a relatively small angular Einstein radius of theta_E ~ 0.03 mas which favors a low mass lens. We conduct a Bayesian analysis to obtain the probability distribution of the lens properties. The results for the planetary models strongly depend on the minimum mass, M_min, in the assumed mass function. In summary, there are two solutions of the lens system: (1) a brown dwarf/planetary mass boundary object orbited by a super-Neptune (the planetary model with M_min=0.001 M_sun) and (2) a brown dwarf binary (the binary model). If the planetary models is correct, this system can be one of a new class of planetary system, having a low host mass and also a planetary mass ratio (q <0.03) between the host and its companion. The discovery of the event is important for the study of planetary formation in very low mass objects. In addition, it is important to consider all viable solutions in these kinds of ambiguous events in order for the future comprehensive statistical analyses of planetary/binary microlensing events.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1804.00830,
title = {MOA-2015-BLG-337: A Planetary System with a Low-mass Brown Dwarf/Planetary Boundary Host, or a Brown Dwarf Binary},
author = {S. Miyazaki and T. Sumi and D. P. Bennett and A. Gould and A. Udalski and I. A. Bond and N. Koshimoto and M. Nagakane and N. Rattenbury and F. Abe and A. Bhattacharya and R. Barry and M. Donachie and A. Fukui and Y. Hirao and Y. Itow and K. Kawasaki and M. C. Li and C. H. Ling and Y. Matsubara and T. Matsuo and Y. Muraki and K. Ohnishi and C. Ranc and T. Saito and A. Sharan and H. Shibai and H. Suematsu and D. Suzuki and D. J. Sullivan and P. J. Tristram and T. Yamada and A. Yonehara and S. owski and P. Mr'oz and M. Pawlak and R. Poleski and P. Pietrukowicz and J. Skowron and I. Soszy'nski and M. K. Szyma'nski and K. Ulaczyk and M. D. Albrow and S. -J. Chung and C. Han and Y. K. Jung and K. -H. Hwang and Y. -H. Ryu and I. -G. Shin and Y. Shvartzvald and J. C. Yee and W. Zang and W. Zhu and S. -M. Cha and D. -J. Kim and H. -W. Kim and S. -L. Kim and C. -U. Lee and D. -J. Lee and Y. Lee and B. -G. Park and R. W. Pogge},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1804.00830},
year = {2018}
}
Comments
17 pages, 7 figures, Accepted for publication in AJ