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Creators/Authors contains: "Poleski, Radek"

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  1. Abstract We complete the analysis of planetary candidates found by the KMT AnomalyFinder for the 2017 prime fields that cover ∼13 deg2. We report three unambiguous planets: OGLE-2017-BLG-0640, OGLE-2017-BLG-1275, and OGLE-2017-BLG-1237. The first two of these were not previously identified, while the last was not previously published due to technical complications induced by a nearby variable. We further report that a fourth anomalous event, the previously recognized OGLE-2017-BLG-1777, is very likely to be planetary, although its light curve requires unusually complex modeling because the lens and source both have orbiting companions. One of the three unambiguous planets, OGLE-2017-BLG-1275, is the first AnomalyFinder discovery that has a Spitzer microlens parallax measurement,πE≃ 0.045 ± 0.015, implying that this planetary system almost certainly lies in the Galactic bulge. In the order listed, the four planetary events have planet-host mass ratiosqand normalized projected separationssof ( log q , s ) = ( 2.31 , 0.61 ) , (−2.06, 0.63/1.09), (−2.10, 1.04), and (−2.86, 0.72). Combined with previously published events, the 2017 prime fields contain 11 unambiguous planets with well-measuredqand one very likely candidate, of which three are AnomalyFinder discoveries. In addition to these 12, there are three other unambiguous planets with large uncertainties inq. 
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  2. Abstract In the pursuit of understanding the population of stellar remnants within the Milky Way, we analyze the sample of ∼950 microlensing events observed by the Spitzer Space Telescope between 2014 and 2019. In this study we focus on a subsample of nine microlensing events, selected based on their long timescales, small microlensing parallaxes, and joint observations by the Gaia mission, to increase the probability that the chosen lenses are massive and the mass is measurable. Among the selected events we identify lensing black holes and neutron star candidates, with potential confirmation through forthcoming release of the Gaia time-series astrometry in 2026. Utilizing Bayesian analysis and Galactic models, along with the Gaia Data Release 3 proper-motion data, four good candidates for dark remnants were identified: OGLE-2016-BLG-0293, OGLE-2018-BLG-0483, OGLE-2018-BLG-0662, and OGLE-2015-BLG-0149, with lens masses of 3.0 1.3 + 1.8 M , 4.7 2.1 + 3.2 M , 3.15 0.64 + 0.66 M and 1.40 0.55 + 0.75 M , respectively. Notably, the first two candidates are expected to exhibit astrometric microlensing signals detectable by Gaia, offering the prospect of validating the lens masses. The methodologies developed in this work will be applied to the full Spitzer microlensing sample, populating and analyzing the timescale (tE) versus parallax (πE) diagram to derive constraints on the population of lenses in general and massive remnants in particular. 
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    Free, publicly-accessible full text available November 1, 2025
  3. Abstract We complete the analysis of all 2018 sub-prime-field microlensing planets identified by the KMTNet AnomalyFinder. Among the 9 previously unpublished events with clear planetary solutions, 6 are clearly planetary (OGLE-2018-BLG-0298, KMT-2018-BLG-0087, KMT-2018-BLG-0247, KMT-2018-BLG-0030, OGLE-2018-BLG-1119, and KMT-2018-BLG-2602), while the remaining 3 are ambiguous in nature. The above ordering of these events is made to facilitate grouping of their Bayesian estimates: the first two are lower-mass gas giants while the last four are Jovian-class planets; the first three most likely lie in the bulge, the last in the disk, and the remaining two are equally likely to be in either population. More specifically, these six planets have host masses M host = ( 0.69 − 0.30 + 0.34 , 0.10 − 0.05 + 0.14 , 0.29 − 0.14 + 0.28 , 0.51 − 0.31 + 0.43 , 0.48 − 0.28 + 0.35 , 0.66 − 0.36 + 0.42 ) M ⊙ , planet masses M planet = ( 0.14 − 0.06 + 0.07 , 0.23 − 0.12 + 0.32 , 2.11 − 1.04 + 2.09 , 1.45 − 0.88 + 1.23 , 0.91 − 0.52 + 0.66 , 1.15 − 0.63 + 0.73 ) M Jup , and distances D L = ( 6.54 − 1.23 + 0.95 , 7.02 − 1.15 + 1.03 , 6.76 − 1.24 + 0.99 , 6.48 − 1.96 + 1.28 , 5.76 − 2.48 + 1.43 , 4.31 − 1.84 + 1.97 ) kpc . In addition, there are 8 previously published sub-prime-field planets that were selected by the AnomalyFinder algorithm. Together with a companion paper on 2018 prime-field planets, this work lays the basis for comprehensive statistical studies. We carry out two such studies, one on caustic topologies and the other on the role of Gaia data. From the first, as expected, half (17/33) of the 2018 planets likely to enter the mass-ratio analysis have non-caustic-crossing anomalies. However, only 1 of the 5 noncaustic anomalies with planet-host mass ratio q < 10 −3 was discovered by eye (compared to 7 of the 12 with q > 10 −3 ), showing the importance of the semiautomated AnomalyFinder search. From the second, we find that Gaia has played a major role in the interpretation of 16% of the sample and a supplementary role in 6%. 
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  4. Abstract We report on the discovery and analysis of the planetary microlensing event OGLE-2019-BLG-1180 with a planet-to-star mass ratioq∼ 0.003. The event OGLE-2019-BLG-1180 has unambiguous cusp-passing and caustic-crossing anomalies, which were caused by a wide planetary caustic withs≃ 2, wheresis the star–planet separation in units of the angular Einstein radiusθE. Thanks to well-covered anomalies by the Korea Micorolensing Telescope Network (KMTNet), we measure both the angular Einstein radius and the microlens parallax in spite of a relatively short event timescale oftE= 28 days. However, because of a weak constraint on the parallax, we conduct a Bayesian analysis to estimate the physical lens parameters. We find that the lens system is a super-Jupiter-mass planet of M p = 1.75 0.51 + 0.53 M J orbiting a late-type star of M h = 0.55 0.26 + 0.27 M at a distance D L = 6.1 1.3 + 0.9 kpc . The projected star–planet separation is a = 5.19 1.23 + 0.90 au , which means that the planet orbits at about four times the snow line of the host star. Considering the relative lens–source proper motion ofμrel= 6 mas yr−1, the lens will be separated from the source by 60 mas in 2029. At that time one can measure the lens flux from adaptive optics imaging of Keck or a next-generation 30 m class telescope. OGLE-2019-BLG-1180Lb represents a growing population of wide-orbit planets detected by KMTNet, so we also present a general investigation into prospects for further expanding the sample of such planets. 
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  5. We present the analysis of a planetary microlensing event OGLE-2019-BLG-0362 with a short-duration anomaly (~0.4 days) near the peak of the light curve, which is caused by the resonant caustic. The event has a severe degeneracy with Δχ^{2} = 0.9 between the close and the wide binary lens models both with planet-host mass ratio q ≃ 0.007. We measure the angular Einstein radius but not the microlens parallax, and thus we perform a Bayesian analysis to estimate the physical parameters of the lens. We find that the OGLE-2019-BLG-0362L system is a super-Jovian-mass planet M_{p}=3.26^{+0.83}_{-0.58} M_{J} orbiting an M dwarf M_{h} = 0.42^{+0.34}_{-0.23} M_{⊙} at a distance D_{L} = 5.83^{+1.04}_{-1.55} kpc. The projected star-planet separation is a_{⊥} = 2.18^{+0.58}_{-0.72} AU, which indicates that the planet lies beyond the snow line of the host star. 
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  6. We present the analysis of a planetary microlensing event OGLE-2019-BLG-0362 with a short-duration anomaly (~0.4 days) near the peak of the light curve, which is caused by the resonant caustic. The event has a severe degeneracy with Δχ^{2} = 0.9 between the close and the wide binary lens models both with planet-host mass ratio q ≃ 0.007. We measure the angular Einstein radius but not the microlens parallax, and thus we perform a Bayesian analysis to estimate the physical parameters of the lens. We find that the OGLE-2019-BLG-0362L system is a super-Jovian-mass planet M_{p}=3.26^{+0.83}_{-0.58} M_{J} orbiting an M dwarf M_{h} = 0.42^{+0.34}_{-0.23} M_{⊙} at a distance D_{L} = 5.83^{+1.04}_{-1.55} kpc. The projected star-planet separation is a_{⊥} = 2.18^{+0.58}_{-0.72} AU, which indicates that the planet lies beyond the snow line of the host star. 
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  7. Abstract This supplement provides supporting material for Lam et al. We briefly summarize past gravitational microlensing searches for black holes (BHs) and present details of the observations, analysis, and modeling of five BH candidates observed with both ground-based photometric microlensing surveys and Hubble Space Telescope astrometry and photometry. We present detailed results for four of the five candidates that show no or low probability for the lens to be a BH. In these cases, the lens masses are <2 M ⊙ , and two of the four are likely white dwarfs or neutron stars. We also present detailed methods for comparing the full sample of five candidates to theoretical expectations of the number of BHs in the Milky Way (∼10 8 ). 
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  8. Abstract We complete the publication of all microlensing planets (and “possible planets”) identified by the uniform approach of the KMT AnomalyFinder system in the 21 KMT subprime fields during the 2019 observing season, namely, KMT-2019-BLG-0298, KMT-2019-BLG-1216, KMT-2019-BLG-2783, OGLE-2019-BLG-0249, and OGLE-2019-BLG-0679 (planets), as well as OGLE-2019-BLG-0344 and KMT-2019-BLG-0304 (possible planets). The five planets have mean log mass ratio measurements of (−2.6, −3.6, −2.5, −2.2, −2.3), median mass estimates of (1.81, 0.094, 1.16, 7.12, 3.34)MJup, and median distance estimates of (6.7, 2.7, 5.9, 6.4, 5.6) kpc, respectively. The main scientific interest of these planets is that they complete the AnomalyFinder sample for 2019, which has a total of 25 planets that are likely to enter the statistical sample. We find statistical consistency with the previously published 33 planets from the 2018 AnomalyFinder analysis according to an ensemble of five tests. Of the 58 planets from 2018–2019, 23 were newly discovered by AnomalyFinder. Within statistical precision, half of the planets have caustic crossings, while half do not; an equal number of detected planets result from major- and minor-image light-curve perturbations; and an equal number come from KMT prime fields versus subprime fields. 
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  9. Aims. With the aim of finding microlensing binaries containing brown dwarf (BD) companions, we investigate the microlensing survey data collected during the 2016–2018 seasons. Methods. For this purpose, we first modeled lensing events with light curves exhibiting anomaly features that are likely to be produced by binary lenses. We then sorted out BD companion binary-lens events by applying the criterion that the companion-to-primary mass ratio is q  ≲ 0.1. With this procedure, we identify six binaries with candidate BD companions: OGLE-2016-BLG-0890L, MOA-2017-BLG-477L, OGLE-2017-BLG-0614L, KMT-2018-BLG-0357L, OGLE-2018-BLG-1489L, and OGLE-2018-BLG-0360L. Results. We estimated the masses of the binary companions by conducting Bayesian analyses using the observables of the individual lensing events. According to the Bayesian estimation of the lens masses, the probabilities for the lens companions of the events OGLE-2016-BLG-0890, OGLE-2017-BLG-0614, OGLE-2018-BLG-1489, and OGLE-2018-BLG-0360 to be in the BD mass regime are very high with P BD  > 80%. For MOA-2017-BLG-477 and KMT-2018-BLG-0357, the probabilities are relatively low with P BD  = 61% and 69%, respectively. 
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  10. Abstract We present the analysis of five black hole candidates identified from gravitational microlensing surveys. Hubble Space Telescope astrometric data and densely sampled light curves from ground-based microlensing surveys are fit with a single-source, single-lens microlensing model in order to measure the mass and luminosity of each lens and determine if it is a black hole. One of the five targets (OGLE-2011-BLG-0462/MOA-2011-BLG-191 or OB110462 for short) shows a significant >1 mas coherent astrometric shift, little to no lens flux, and has an inferred lens mass of 1.6–4.4M. This makes OB110462 the first definitive discovery of a compact object through astrometric microlensing and it is most likely either a neutron star or a low-mass black hole. This compact-object lens is relatively nearby (0.70–1.92 kpc) and has a slow transverse motion of <30 km s−1. OB110462 shows significant tension between models well fit to photometry versus astrometry, making it currently difficult to distinguish between a neutron star and a black hole. Additional observations and modeling with more complex system geometries, such as binary sources, are needed to resolve the puzzling nature of this object. For the remaining four candidates, the lens masses are <2M, and they are unlikely to be black holes; two of the four are likely white dwarfs or neutron stars. We compare the full sample of five candidates to theoretical expectations on the number of black holes in the Milky Way (∼108) and find reasonable agreement given the small sample size. 
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