Showing papers by "M. Kubiak published in 2008"

Discovery of a Jupiter/Saturn Analog with Gravitational Microlensing

Abstract: Searches for extrasolar planets have uncovered an astonishing diversity of planetary systems, yet the frequency of solar system analogs remains unknown. The gravitational microlensing planet search method is potentially sensitive to multiple-planet systems containing analogs of all the solar system planets except Mercury. We report the detection of a multiple-planet system with microlensing. We identify two planets with masses of ∼0.71 and ∼0.27 times the mass of Jupiter and orbital separations of ∼2.3 and ∼4.6 astronomical units orbiting a primary star of mass ∼0.50 solar mass at a distance of ∼1.5 kiloparsecs. This system resembles a scaled version of our solar system in that the mass ratio, separation ratio, and equilibrium temperatures of the planets are similar to those of Jupiter and Saturn. These planets could not have been detected with other techniques; their discovery from only six confirmed microlensing planet detections suggests that solar system analogs may be common.

A Low-Mass Planet with a Possible Sub-Stellar-Mass Host in Microlensing Event MOA-2007-BLG-192

Abstract: We report the detection of an extrasolar planet of mass ratio q~2×10-4 in microlensing event MOA-2007-BLG-192. The best-fit microlensing model shows both the microlensing parallax and finite source effects, and these can be combined to obtain the lens masses of M=0.060+0.028-0.021 Msolar for the primary and m=3.3+4.9-1.6 M? for the planet. However, the observational coverage of the planetary deviation is sparse and incomplete, and the radius of the source was estimated without the benefit of a source star color measurement. As a result, the 2 ? limits on the mass ratio and finite source measurements are weak. Nevertheless, the microlensing parallax signal clearly favors a substellar mass planetary host, and the measurement of finite source effects in the light curve supports this conclusion. Adaptive optics images taken with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) NACO instrument are consistent with a lens star that is either a brown dwarf or a star at the bottom of the main sequence. Follow-up VLT and/or Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations will either confirm that the primary is a brown dwarf or detect the low-mass lens star and enable a precise determination of its mass. In either case, the lens star, MOA-2007-BLG-192L, is the lowest mass primary known to have a companion with a planetary mass ratio, and the planet, MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb, is probably the lowest mass exoplanet found to date, aside from the lowest mass pulsar planet.

A Low-Mass Planet with a Possible Sub-Stellar-Mass Host in Microlensing Event MOA-2007-BLG-192

Abstract: We report the detection of an extrasolar planet of mass ratio q ~ 2 x 10^(-4) in microlensing event MOA-2007-BLG-192. The best fit microlensing model shows both the microlensing parallax and finite source effects, and these can be combined to obtain the lens masses of M = 0.060 (+0.028 -0.021) M_sun for the primary and m = 3.3 (+4.9 -1.6) M_earth for the planet. However, the observational coverage of the planetary deviation is sparse and incomplete, and the radius of the source was estimated without the benefit of a source star color measurement. As a result, the 2-sigma limits on the mass ratio and finite source measurements are weak. Nevertheless, the microlensing parallax signal clearly favors a sub-stellar mass planetary host, and the measurement of finite source effects in the light curve supports this conclusion. Adaptive optics images taken with the Very Large Telescope (VLT) NACO instrument are consistent with a lens star that is either a brown dwarf or a star at the bottom of the main sequence. Follow-up VLT and/or Hubble Space Telescope (HST) observations will either confirm that the primary is a brown dwarf or detect the low-mass lens star and enable a precise determination of its mass. In either case, the lens star, MOA-2007-BLG-192L, is the lowest mass primary known to have a companion with a planetary mass ratio, and the planet, MOA-2007-BLG-192Lb, is probably the lowest mass exoplanet found to date, aside from the lowest mass pulsar planet.

OGLE-2005-BLG-071Lb, the Most Massive M-Dwarf Planetary Companion?

Abstract: We combine all available information to constrain the nature of OGLE-2005-BLG-071Lb, the second planet discovered by microlensing and the first in a high-magnification event. These include photometric and astrometric measurements from Hubble Space Telescope, as well as constraints from higher order effects extracted from the ground-based light curve, such as microlens parallax, planetary orbital motion and finite-source effects. Our primary analysis leads to the conclusion that the host of Jovian planet OGLE-2005-BLG-071Lb is an M dwarf in the foreground disk with mass M= 0.46 +/- 0.04 Msun, distance D_l = 3.3 +/- 0.4 kpc, and thick-disk kinematics v_LSR ~ 103 km/s. From the best-fit model, the planet has mass M_p = 3.8 +/- 0.4 M_Jup, lies at a projected separation r_perp = 3.6 +/- 0.2 AU from its host and so has an equilibrium temperature of T ~ 55 K, i.e., similar to Neptune. A degenerate model less favored by \Delta\chi^2 = 2.1 (or 2.2, depending on the sign of the impact parameter) gives similar planetary mass M_p = 3.4 +/- 0.4 M_Jup with a smaller projected separation, r_\perp = 2.1 +/- 0.1 AU, and higher equilibrium temperature T ~ 71 K. These results from the primary analysis suggest that OGLE-2005-BLG-071Lb is likely to be the most massive planet yet discovered that is hosted by an M dwarf. However, the formation of such high-mass planetary companions in the outer regions of M-dwarf planetary systems is predicted to be unlikely within the core-accretion scenario. There are a number of caveats to this primary analysis, which assumes (based on real but limited evidence) that the unlensed light coincident with the source is actually due to the lens, that is, the planetary host. However, these caveats could mostly be resolved by a single astrometric measurement a few years after the event.

Microlensing Event MOA-2007-BLG-400: Exhuming the Buried Signature of a Cool, Jovian-Mass Planet

Abstract: We report the detection of the cool, Jovian-mass planet MOA-2007-BLG-400Lb. The planet was detected in a high-magnification microlensing event (with peak magnification A_max = 628) in which the primary lens transited the source, resulting in a dramatic smoothing of the peak of the event. The angular extent of the region of perturbation due to the planet is significantly smaller than the angular size of the source, and as a result the planetary signature is also smoothed out by the finite source size. Thus the deviation from a single-lens fit is broad and relatively weak (~ few percent). Nevertheless, we demonstrate that the planetary nature of the deviation can be unambiguously ascertained from the gross features of the residuals, and detailed analysis yields a fairly precise planet/star mass ratio of q = 0.0026+/-0.0004, in accord with the large significance (\Delta\chi^2=1070) of the detection. The planet/star projected separation is subject to a strong close/wide degeneracy, leading to two indistinguishable solutions that differ in separation by a factor of ~8.5. Upper limits on flux from the lens constrain its mass to be M < 0.75 M_Sun (assuming it is a main-sequence star). A Bayesian analysis that includes all available observational constraints indicates a primary in the Galactic bulge with a mass of ~0.2-0.5 M_Sun and thus a planet mass of ~ 0.5-1.3 M_Jupiter. The separation and equilibrium temperature are ~0.6-1.1AU (~5.3-9.7AU) and ~103K (~34K) for the close (wide) solution. If the primary is a main-sequence star, follow-up observations would enable the detection of its light and so a measurement of its mass and distance.

A transiting planet among 23 new near-threshold candidates from the OGLE survey - OGLE-TR-182

Abstract: By re-processing the data of the second season of the OGLE survey for planetary transits and adding new mesurements on the same fields gathered in subsequent years with the OGLE telescope, we have identified 23 new transit candidates, recorded as OGLE-TR-178 to OGLE-TR-200. We studied the nature of these objects with the FLAMES/UVES multi-fiber spectrograph on the VLT. One of the candidates, OGLE-TR-182, was confirmed as a transiting gas giant planet on a 4-day orbit. We characterised it with further observations using the FORS1 camera and UVES spectrograph on the VLT. OGLE-TR-182b is a typical "hot Jupiter" with an orbital period of 3.98 days, a mass of 1.01 ± 0.15 M Jup and a radius of 1.13 +0.24 -0.08 R Jup . Confirming this transiting planet required a large investment in telescope time with the best instruments available, and we comment on the difficulty of the confirmation process for transiting planets in the OGLE survey. We delineate the zone were confirmation is difficult or impossible, and discuss the implications for the CoRoT space mission in its quest for transiting telluric planets.

OGLE-TR-211 – a new transiting inflated hot Jupiter from the OGLE survey and ESO LP666 spectroscopic follow-up program

Abstract: We present results of the photometric campaign for planetary and low-luminosity object transits conducted by the OGLE survey in the 2005 season (Campaign #5). About twenty of the most promising candidates discovered in these data were subsequently verified spectroscopically with the VLT/FLAMES spectrograph. One of the candidates, OGLE-TR-211, reveals clear changes of radial velocity with a small amplitude of 82 m/s, varying in phase with photometric transit ephemeris. Further analysis confirms the planetary nature of this system. Follow-up precise photometry of OGLE-TR-211 with VLT/FORS, together with radial velocity spectroscopy, supplemented with high-resolution, high S/N VLT/UVES spectra allowed us to derive parameters of the planet and host star. OGLE-TR-211b is a hot Jupiter orbiting an F7-8 spectral type dwarf star with a period of 3.68 days. The mass of the planet is equal to 1.03± 0.20 M Jup , while its radius R Jup . The radius is about 20% larger than the typical radius of hot Jupiters of similar mass. OGLE-TR-211b is, then, another example of inflated hot Jupiters – a small group of seven exoplanets with large radii and unusually low densities – objects that are a challenge to the current models of exoplanets.

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. The OGLE-III Catalog of Variable Stars. I. Classical Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract: We present the first part of a new catalog of variable stars (OIII-CVS) compiled from the data collected in the course of the third phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE-III). In this paper we describe the catalog of 3361 classical Cepheids detected in the ~40 square degrees area in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The sample consists of 1848 fundamental-mode (F), 1228 first-overtone (1O), 14 second-overtone (2O), 61 double-mode F/1O, 203 double-mode 1O/2O, 2 double-mode 1O/3O, and 5 triple-mode classical Cepheids. This sample is supplemented by the list of 23 ultra-low amplitude variable stars which may be Cepheids entering or exiting instability strip. The catalog data include VI high-quality photometry collected since 2001, and for some stars supplemented by the OGLE-II photometry obtained between 1997 and 2000. We provide basic parameters of the stars: coordinates, periods, mean magnitudes, amplitudes and parameters of the Fourier light curve decompositions. Individual objects of particular interest are discussed, including single-mode second-overtone Cepheids, multiperiodic pulsators with unusual period ratios or Cepheids in eclipsing binary systems. We discuss the variations of the Fourier coefficients with periods and point out on the sharp feature for periods around 0.35 days of first-overtone Cepheids, which can be explained by the occurrence of 2:1 resonance between the first and fifth overtones. Similar behavior at P=3 days for 1O Cepheids and P=10 days for F Cepheids are also interpreted as an effect of resonances between two radial modes. We fit the period-luminosity relations to our sample of Cepheids and compare these functions with previous determinations.

The Araucaria Project: The Distance to the Sculptor Group Galaxy NGC 247 from Cepheid Variables Discovered in a Wide-Field

Abstract: We report on the discovery of a Cepheid population in the Sculptor Group spiral galaxy NGC 247 for the first time. On the basis of wide-field images collected in photometric surveys in V and I bands which were conducted with three different telescopes and cameras, 23 Cepheid variables were discovered with periods ranging from 17 to 131 days. We have constructed the period-luminosity relations from these data and obtain distance moduli to NGC 247 of 28.20 $\pm$ 0.05 mag (internal error) in V, 28.04 $\pm$ 0.06 mag in I, and 27.80 $\pm$ 0.09 mag in the reddening-independent Wesenheit index. From our optical data we have determined the total mean reddening of the Cepheids in NGC 247 as E(B-V)=0.13 mag, which brings the true distance modulus determinations from the V and I bands into excellent agreement with the distance determination in the Wesenheit index. The best estimate for the true distance modulus of NGC 247 from our optical Cepheid photometry is 27.80 $\pm$0.09 (internal error) $\pm$ 0.09 mag (systematic error) which is in excellent agreement with other recent distance determinations for NGC 247 from the Tip of the Red Giant branch method, and from the Tully-Fisher relation. The distance for NGC 247 places this galaxy at twice the distance of two other Sculptor Group galaxies, NGC 300 and NGC 55, yielding supporting evidence for the filament-like structure of this group of galaxies. The reported distance value is tied to an assumed LMC distance modulus of 18.50 mag.

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. The OGLE-III Catalog of Variable Stars. II. Type II Cepheids and Anomalous Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract: In the second part of the OGLE-III Catalog of Variable Stars (OIII-CVS) we present 197 type II Cepheids and 83 anomalous Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud (LMC) The sample of type II Cepheids consists of 64 BL Her stars, 96 W Vir stars and 37 RV Tau stars Anomalous Cepheids are divided into 62 fundamental-mode and 21 first-overtone pulsators These are the largest samples of such types of variable stars detected anywhere outside the Galaxy We present the period-luminosity and color-magnitude diagrams of stars in the sample If the boundary period between BL Her and W Vir stars is adopted at 4 days, both groups differ significantly in (V-I) colors We identify a group of 16 peculiar W Vir stars with different appearance of the light curves, brighter and bluer than ordinary stars of that type Four of these peculiar W Vir stars show additional eclipsing modulation superimposed on the pulsation light curves Four other stars of that type show long-period secondary variations which may be ellipsoidal modulations It suggests that peculiar W Vir subgroup may be related to binarity In total, we identified seven type II Cepheids simultaneously exhibiting eclipsing variations which is a very large fraction compared to classical Cepheids in the LMC We discuss diagrams showing Fourier parameters of the light curve decomposition against periods Three sharp features interpreted as an effect of resonances between radial modes are detectable in these diagrams for type II Cepheids

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. Triple-Mode and 1O/3O Double-Mode Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract: We report the discovery of three new triple-mode classical Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud, two of them with the fundamental, first overtone and second overtone excited, and one pulsating simultaneously in the first three overtones. Thus, the number of triple-mode Cepheids in the LMC is increased to five. We also present two objects belonging probably to a new type of double-mode Cepheids having the first and third overtones excited. We measure the rates of period change in these stars and detect decrease of periods in two of them, what is in conflict with theoretical predictions.

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. The OGLE-III Catalog of Variable Stars. I. Classical Cepheids in the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract: We present the first part of a new catalog of variable stars (OIII-CVS) compiled from the data collected in the course of the third phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE-III). In this paper we describe the catalog of 3361 classical Cepheids detected in the ~40 square degrees area in the Large Magellanic Cloud. The sample consists of 1848 fundamental-mode (F), 1228 first-overtone (1O), 14 second-overtone (2O), 61 double-mode F/1O, 203 double-mode 1O/2O, 2 double-mode 1O/3O, and 5 triple-mode classical Cepheids. This sample is supplemented by the list of 23 ultra-low amplitude variable stars which may be Cepheids entering or exiting instability strip. The catalog data include VI high-quality photometry collected since 2001, and for some stars supplemented by the OGLE-II photometry obtained between 1997 and 2000. We provide basic parameters of the stars: coordinates, periods, mean magnitudes, amplitudes and parameters of the Fourier light curve decompositions. Individual objects of particular interest are discussed, including single-mode second-overtone Cepheids, multiperiodic pulsators with unusual period ratios or Cepheids in eclipsing binary systems. We discuss the variations of the Fourier coefficients with periods and point out on the sharp feature for periods around 0.35 days of first-overtone Cepheids, which can be explained by the occurrence of 2:1 resonance between the first and fifth overtones. Similar behavior at P=3 days for 1O Cepheids and P=10 days for F Cepheids are also interpreted as an effect of resonances between two radial modes. We fit the period-luminosity relations to our sample of Cepheids and compare these functions with previous determinations.

Binary Lenses in OGLE III EWS Database. Season 2005

Abstract: We present nine new binary lens candidates from OGLE-III Early Warning System database for the season of 2005. We have also found four events interpreted as single mass lensing of double sources. The candidates have been selected by visual light curves inspection. Examining the models of binary lenses in our previous studies (10 caustic crossing events of OGLE-II seasons 1997--1999 and 34 binary lens events of OGLE-III seasons 2002--2004, including one planetary event), in this work and in three publications concerning planetary events of season 2005, we find four cases of extreme mass ratio binaries (q<0.01), and almost all other models with mass ratios in the range 0.1

The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. OGLE-III Photometric Maps of the Large Magellanic Cloud

Abstract: We present the OGLE-III Photometric Maps of the Large Magellanic Cloud. They cover about 40 square degrees of the LMC and contain mean, calibrated VI photometry and astrometry of about 35 million stars observed during seven observing seasons of the third phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment - OGLE-III. We discuss the quality of data and present color-magnitude diagrams of selected fields. The OGLE-III Photometric Maps of the LMC are available to the astronomical community from the OGLE Internet archive.