Three Saturn-mass Microlensing Planets Identified through Signals from Peripheral-caustic Perturbations
Abstract
We present the discovery and analysis of three microlensing planets identified through brief positive anomalies on the wings of their light curves. The events, KMT-2021-BLG-0852, KMT-2024-BLG-2005, and KMT-2025-BLG-0481, were detected in high-cadence survey data from the KMTNet, OGLE, MOA, and PRIME collaborations. The anomaly morphologies are consistent with major-image perturbations induced by planetary-mass companions located near the peripheral caustic. A systematic exploration of model degeneracies, including binary-source scenarios, higher mass-ratio binary lenses, and the inner--outer caustic degeneracy, firmly establishes the planetary origin of each signal. Measurements of the angular Einstein radius and event timescale, combined with Bayesian priors from a Galactic model, yield the physical parameters of each system. The hosts are low-mass stars (0.12--0.75~), while the companions are Saturn-mass planets (0.16--0.59 ) projected at separations of 1.1--7.8 au, placing them beyond the snowline of their hosts. These results demonstrate the capability of microlensing to detect and characterize cold giant planets around low-mass stars at kpc distances, populating the critical transition region between ice giants and gas giants.
Cite
@article{arxiv.2602.16095,
title = {Three Saturn-mass Microlensing Planets Identified through Signals from Peripheral-caustic Perturbations},
author = {Cheongho Han and Chung-Uk Lee and Andrzej Udalski and Ian A. Bond 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 Kyeongsoo Hong and Richard W. Pogge 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 and Fumio Abe and David P. Bennett and Aparna Bhattacharya and Ryusei Hamada and Yuki Hirao and Asahi Idei and Stela Ishitani Silva and Shuma Makida and Shota Miyazaki and Yasushi Muraki and Tutumi Nagai and Togo Nagano and Seiya Nakayama and Mayu Nishio and Kansuke Nunota and Ryo Ogawa and Ryunosuke Oishi and Yui Okumoto 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},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.16095},
year = {2026}
}
Comments
11 pages, 6 figures