OGLE-2017-BLG-0173Lb: Low Mass-Ratio Planet in a Hollywood Microlensing Event


Abstract in English

We present microlensing planet OGLE-2017-BLG-0173Lb, with planet-host mass ratio either $qsimeq 2.5times 10^{-5}$ or $qsimeq 6.5times 10^{-5}$, the lowest or among the lowest ever detected. The planetary perturbation is strongly detected, $Deltachi^2sim 10,000$, because it arises from a bright (therefore, large) source passing over and enveloping the planetary caustic: a so-called Hollywood event. The factor $sim 2.5$ offset in $q$ arises because of a previously unrecognized discrete degeneracy between Hollywood events in which the caustic is fully enveloped and those in which only one flank is enveloped, which we dub Cannae and von Schlieffen, respectively. This degeneracy is accidental in that it arises from gaps in the data. Nevertheless, the fact that it appears in a $Deltachi^2=10,000$ planetary anomaly is striking. We present a simple formalism to estimate the sensitivity of other Hollywood events to planets and show that they can lead to detections close to, but perhaps not quite reaching, the Earth/Sun mass ratio of $3times 10^{-6}$. This formalism also enables an analytic understanding of the factor $sim 2.5$ offset in $q$ between the Cannae and von Schlieffen solutions. The Bayesian estimates for the host-mass, system distance, and planet-host projected separation are $M=0.39^{+0.40}_{-0.24},M_odot$, $D_L=4.8^{+1.5}_{-1.8},kpc$, and $a_perp=3.8pm 1.6,au$. The two estimates of the planet mass are $m_p=3.3^{+3.8}_{-2.1},M_oplus$ and $m_p=8^{+11}_{-6},M_oplus$. The measured lens-source relative proper motion $mu=6,masyr$ will permit imaging of the lens in about 15 years or at first light on adaptive-optics imagers on next-generation telescopes. These will allow to measure the host mass but probably cannot resolve the planet-host mass-ratio degeneracy.

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