English

KMT-2024-BLG-3237: Another Free-Floating Planet Candidate with Angular Einstein Radius Measurement

Earth and Planetary Astrophysics 2026-02-27 v1 Astrophysics of Galaxies

Abstract

Planet formation theories suggest the presence of free-floating planets (FFPs) that are ejected from their formation sites. While these planets emit very little light, they can be identified through gravitational microlensing. Here, we report the discovery of a FFP candidate in the microlensing event KMT-2024-BLG-3237. The observed light curve exhibits strong finite-source effects characterized by a small amplitude (0.9mag)(\lesssim 0.9\,{\rm mag}) and a short timescale (3days)(\lesssim 3\,{\rm days}). The analysis yields an Einstein timescale of tE=0.54±0.02dayst_{\rm E} = 0.54\pm0.02\,{\rm days} and an angular Einstein radius of θE=6.30±0.48μas\theta_{\rm E} = 6.30\pm0.48\,\mu{\rm as}. The measurements make it possible to estimate the lens mass as M102M(πrel/16μas)1M \simeq 102\,M_{\oplus}\,(\pi_{\rm rel}/16\,\mu{\rm as})^{-1}, where πrel\pi_{\rm rel} is the relative lens-source parallax. Depending on the unknown πrel\pi_{\rm rel}, the lens could be a Neptune-mass planet (πrel0.1mas)(\pi_{\rm rel} \simeq 0.1\,{\rm mas}) or a Saturn-mass planet (πrel16μas)(\pi_{\rm rel} \simeq 16\,\mu{\rm as}). A Bayesian analysis yields the lens mass M=67.342.5+103.2MM = {67.3}_{-42.5}^{+103.2}\,M_{\oplus} and the lens distance DL=7.342.11+0.96kpcD_{\rm L} = {7.34}_{-2.11}^{+0.96}\,{\rm kpc}. This lens is the eleventh isolated microlens with a measurement of θE<10μas\theta_{\rm E} < 10\,\mu{\rm as}. We find that additional searches for possible signatures of a lens host do not show significant evidence for the host.

Keywords

Cite

@article{arxiv.2602.22709,
  title  = {KMT-2024-BLG-3237: Another Free-Floating Planet Candidate with Angular Einstein Radius Measurement},
  author = {Tanagodchaporn Inyanya and Youn Kil Jung and Hongjing Yang and Kyu-Ha Hwang and Andrew Gould and Michael D. Albrow and Sun-Ju Chung and Cheongho Han and Yoon-Hyun Ryu and In-Gu Shin and Yossi Shvartzvald and Jennifer C. Yee and Weicheng Zang and Dong-Jin Kim and Chung-Uk Lee and Byeong-Gon Park},
  journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2602.22709},
  year   = {2026}
}
R2 v1 2026-07-01T10:53:27.352Z