Aims. Light curves of microlensing events occasionally deviate from the smooth and symmetric form of a single-lens single-source event. While most of these anomalous events can be accounted for by employing a binary-lens single-source (2L 1S) or a single-lens binary-source (1L2S) framework, it is established that a small fraction of events remain unexplained by either of these interpretations. We carried out a project in which data collected by high-cadence microlensing surveys were reinvestigated with the aim of uncovering the nature of anomalous lensing events with no proposed 2L 1S or 1L 2S models. Methods. From the project we found that the anomaly appearing in the lensing event OGLE-2023-BLG-0836 cannot be explained by the usual interpretations, and we conducted a comprehensive analysis of the event. From thorough modeling of the light curve under sophisticated lens-system configurations, we arrived at the conclusion that a triple-mass lens system is imperative to account for the anomalous features observed in the lensing light curve. Results. From the Bayesian analysis using the measured observables of the event timescale and angular Einstein radius, we determined that the least massive component of the lens has a planetary mass of 4.36−2.18+2.35MJ. This planet orbits within a stellar binary system composed of two stars with masses 0.71−0.36+0.38M⊙and 0.56−0.28+0.30M⊙. This lensing event signifies the sixth occurrence of a planetary microlensing system in which a planet belongs to a stellar binary system.
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This content will become publicly available on April 1, 2026
Analyses of anomalous lensing events detected from the UKIRT microlensing survey
Aims.The United Kingdom Infrared Telescope (UKIRT) microlensing survey was conducted over four years, from 2016 to 2019, with the goal of serving as a precursor to future near-infrared microlensing surveys. Focusing on stars in the Galactic center and utilizing near-infrared passbands, the survey identified approximately one thousand microlensing events, 27 of which displayed anomalies in their light curves. This paper presents an analysis of these anomalous events, aiming to uncover the underlying causes of the observed anomalies. Methods.The events were analyzed under various configurations, considering the potential binarity of both the lens and the source. For 11 events that were additionally observed by other optical microlensing surveys, including those conducted by the OGLE, KMTNet, and MOA collaborations, we incorporated their data into our analysis. Results.Among the reported anomalous events, we revealed the nature of 24 events except for three events, in which one was likely to be a transient variable, and two were difficult to accurately characterize their nature due to the limitations of the available data. We confirmed the binary lens nature of the anomalies in 22 events. Among these, we verified the earlier discovery that the companion in the binary lens system UKIRT11L is a planetary object. Accurately describing the anomaly in UKIRT21 required a model that accounted for the binarity of both the lens and the source. For two events UKIRT01 and UKIRT17, the anomalies could be interpreted using either a binary-source or a binary-lens model. For the UKIRT05, it was found that accounting for higher-order effects induced by the orbit al motions of both Earth and the binary lens was crucial. With the measured microlensing parallax togeter with the angular Einstein radius, the component masses of the UKIRT05 binary lens were determined to beM1= (1.05 ± 0.20)M⊙,M2= (0.36 ± 0.07)M⊙, and the distance to the lens was found to beDL= (3.11 ± 0.40) kpc.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2108414
- PAR ID:
- 10654672
- Author(s) / Creator(s):
- ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; more »
- Publisher / Repository:
- Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Astronomy & Astrophysics
- Volume:
- 696
- ISSN:
- 0004-6361
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- A126
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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