• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.35 no.1
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• pp.35-40
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• 2002

Gaudi, Naber & Sackett pointed out that if an event is caused by a lens system containing more than two planets, all planets will affect the central region of the magnification pattern, and thus the existence of the multiple planets can be inferred by detecting additionally deformed anomalies from intensive monitoring of high magnification microlensing events. Unfortunately, this method has important limitations in identifying the existence of multiple planets and determining their parameters (the mass ratio and the instantaneous projected separation) due to the degeneracy of the resulting light curve anomalies from those induced by a single planet and the complexity of multiple planet lensing models. In this paper, we propose a new channel to search for multiple planets via microlensing. The method is based on the fact that the lensing light curve anomalies induced by multiple planets are well approximated by the superposition of those of the single planet systems where the individual planet-primary pairs act as independent lens systems. Then, if the source trajectory passes both of the outer deviation regions induced by the individual planets, one can unambiguously identify the existence of the multiple planets. We illustrate that the probability of successively detecting light curve anomalies induced by two Jovian-mass planets located in the lensing zone through this channel will be substantial. Since the individual anomalies can be well described by much simpler single planet lensing models, the proposed method has an important advantage of allowing one to accurately determine the parameters of the individual planets.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.53 no.3
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• pp.69-75
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• 2020

We study the photometric phase curves for the planets of our solar system which can be considered as a prototypical non-compact planetary system. We focus on modeling the small variations caused by three effects: reflection, ellipsoidal, and Doppler beaming. Theoretical predictions for these photometric variations are proposed, considering a hypothetical external observer. Unlike similar studies of multi-planetary systems, the physical and geometrical parameters for each planet of the solar system are well-known. Therefore, we can accurately evaluate the relationships that shape the planetary light curves for a fictitious external observer. Our results suggest that, for all planets, the ellipsoidal effect is very weak while the Doppler beaming effect (DBE) is, in general, dominant. In fact, the DBE seems to be the principal cause of variations of the light curves for the planets of the solar system. However, for Mercury and Venus the Doppler beaming and reflection effects have similar amplitudes. The phase curves obtained for the planets of the solar system show new interesting features of interest for the study of other non-compact planetary systems.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.55 no.3
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• pp.75-86
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• 2022

The lunar surface progressively darkens and reddens as a result of sputtering from solar wind particles and bombardment of micrometeoroids. The extent of exposure to these space weathering agents is frequently calculated as the location in a diagram of reflectance at 750 nm vs. 950 nm/750 nm color (R-C). Sim & Kim (2018) examined the R-C trends of pixels within ~3,500 craters, and revealed that the length (L) and skewness (s) of R-C trends can be employed as a secondary age or maturity indicator. We broaden this research to general lunar surface areas (3,400 tiles of 0.25° × 0.25° size) in 218 mare basalt units, whose ages have been derived from the size-frequency distribution analysis by Hiesinger et al. (2011). We discover that L and s rise with age until ~3.2 Gyr and reduce rather rapidly afterward, while the optical maturity, OMAT, reduces monotonically with time. We show that in some situations, when not only OMAT but also L and s are incorporated in the estimation utilizing 750 & 950 nm photometry, the age estimation becomes considerably more reliable. We also observed that OMAT and the lunar cratering chronology function (cumulative number of craters larger than a certain diameter as a function of time) have a relatively linear relationship.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.39-45
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• 2009

We investigate the degeneracy in the pattern of central microlensing perturbations of a pair of planetary systems where the planets are located from the primary with projected separations in units of the Einstein radius s and $s^{-1}$, respectively. From this, we confirm the fact that although alike, the patterns of central perturbations induced by a close (s < 1) planet and a wide (s > 1) planet are not identical and the degree of difference depends on the planet/primary mass ratio and the planet-primary separation. We find that the difference can be greater than 5% for planetary systems with lensing parameters located in the parameter space of (1/1.8 < |s| < 1.8, q > $5{\times}10^{-3}$), (1/1.3 < |s| < 1.3, q > $1{\times}10^{-3}$), and (1/1.2 < |s| < 1.2, q > $5{\times}10^{-4}$), where q represents the planet/primary mass ratio. Although this range occupies a small fraction of the entire parameter space of planetary systems, we predict that the chance of resolving the close/wide degeneracy would not be meager considering that the planet detection efficiency is higher for planets with resonant separations (s $\sim$ 1) and heavier masses. We also find that the differences between the perturbation patterns are basically caused by the effect of the planetary caustic. This explains the tendency of the perturbation difference where (1) the difference increases as the planet/primary mass ratio increases and the separation approaches the Einstein radius, (2) the region of major difference is confined within the region around the line connecting the central and the planetary caustics, and (3) a wide (close) planetary system has a more extended central perturbation region toward the (opposite) direction of the planet.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.42 no.3
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• pp.33-37
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• 2009

We propose a diagnostic that can resolve the planet/binary degeneracy of central perturbations in caustic-crossing high-magnification microlensing events. The diagnostic is based on the difference in the morphology of perturbation inside the central caustics induced by a planet and a wide-separation binary companion. We find that the contours of excess exhibit a concentric circular pattern around the caustic center for the binary-lensing case, while the contours are elongated or off-centered for the planetary case. This difference results in the distinctive features of the individual lens populations in the residual of the trough region between the two peaks of the caustic crossings, where the shape of the residual is symmetric for binary lensing while it tends to be asymmetric for planetary lensing. We determine the ranges of the planetary parameters for which the proposed diagnostic can be used. The diagnostic is complementary to previously proposed diagnostics in the sense that it is applicable to caustic-crossing events with small finite-source effect.

• Journal of The Korean Astronomical Society
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• v.55 no.5
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• pp.173-194
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• 2022

We complete the survey for finite-source/point-lens (FSPL) giant-source events in 2016-2019 KMTNet microlensing data. The 30 FSPL events show a clear gap in Einstein radius, 9 𝜇as < 𝜃_E < 26 𝜇as, which is consistent with the gap in Einstein timescales near t_E ~ 0.5 days found by Mróz et al. (2017) in an independent sample of point-source/point-lens (PSPL) events. We demonstrate that the two surveys are consistent. We estimate that the 4 events below this gap are due to a power-law distribution of free-floating planet candidates (FFPs) dN_FFP/d log M = (0.4 ± 0.2) (M/38 M_⊕)^-p/star, with 0.9 ≲ p ≲ 1.2. There are substantially more FFPs than known bound planets, implying that the bound planet power-law index 𝛾 = 0.6 is likely shaped by the ejection process at least as much as by formation. The mass density per decade of FFPs in the Solar neighborhood is of the same order as that of 'Oumuamua-like objects. In particular, if we assume that 'Oumuamua is part of the same process that ejected the FFPs to very wide or unbound orbits, the power-law index is p = 0.89 ± 0.06. If the Solar System's endowment of Neptune-mass objects in Neptune-like orbits is typical, which is consistent with the results of Poleski et al. (2021), then these could account for a substantial fraction of the FFPs in the Neptune-mass range.