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In the favoured core-accretion model of formation of planetary systems, solid planetesimals accumulate to build up planetary cores, which then accrete nebular gas if they are sufficiently massive. Around M-dwarf stars ( the most common stars in our Galaxy), this model favours the formation of Earth-mass (M+) to Neptune-mass planets with orbital radii of 1 to 10 astronomical units (AU), which is consistent with the small number of gas giant planets known to orbit M-dwarf host stars(1-4). More than 170 extrasolar planets have been discovered with a wide range of masses and orbital periods, but planets of Neptune's mass or less have not hitherto been detected at separations of more than 0.15 AU from normal stars. Here we report the discovery of a 5.5(-2.7)(+5.5)M(+) planetary companion at a separation of 2.6(- 0.6)(+1.5) AU from a 0.22(-0.11)(+0.21)M(.) M-dwarf star, where M-. refers to a solar mass. (We propose to name it OGLE- 2005-BLG-390Lb, indicating a planetary mass companion to the lens star of the microlensing event.) The mass is lower than that of GJ876d (ref. 5), although the error bars overlap. Our detection suggests that such cool, sub-Neptune-mass planets may be more common than gas giant planets, as predicted by the core accretion theory.
We discuss high-resolution, time-resolved spectra of the caustic exit of the binary microlensing event OGLE 2002-BLG-069 obtained with UVES on the VLT. The source star is a G5III giant in the Galactic Bulge. During such events, the source star is highly magnified, and a strong differential magnification around the caustic resolves its surface. Using an appropriate model stellar atmosphere generated by the PHOENIX v2.6 code we obtain a model light curve for the caustic exit and compare it with a dense set of photometric observations obtained by the PLANET microlensing follow up network. We further compare predicted variations in the Halpha equivalent width with those measured from our spectra. While the model and observations agree in the gross features, there are discrepancies suggesting shortcomings in the model, particularly for the Halpha line core, where we have detected amplified emission from the stellar chromosphere after the source star's trailing limb exited the caustic. This achievement became possible by the provision of the very efficient OGLE-III Early Warning System, a network of small telescopes capable of nearly-continuous round-the-clock photometric monitoring, on-line data reduction, daily near-real-time modelling in order to predict caustic crossing parameters, and a fast and efficient response of a 8 m class telescope to a "Target-of-Opportunity" observation request
We present a new determination of the time delay of the gravitational lens system HE 1104-1805 (``Double Hamburger'') based on a previously unpublished dataset. We argue that the previously published value of Delta tA-B=0.73 years was affected by a bias of the employed method. We determine a new value of Delta tA-B=0.85+/-0.05 years (2sigma confidence level), using six different techniques based on non interpolation methods in the time domain. The result demonstrates that even in the case of poorly sampled lightcurves, useful information can be obtained with regard to the time delay. The error estimates were calculated through Monte Carlo simulations. With two already existing models for the lens and using its recently determined redshift, we infer a range of values of the Hubble parameter: H0=48+/-4 km s-1 Mpc-1 (2sigma ) for a singular isothermal ellipsoid (SIE) and H0=62+/-4 km s-1 Mpc-1 (2sigma ) for a constant mass-to-light ratio plus shear model (M/L+gamma ). The possibly much larger errors due to systematic uncertainties in modeling the lens potential are not included in this error estimate.
When a gravitationally lensed source crosses a caustic, a pair of images is created or destroyed. We calculate the mean number of such pairs of microimages <n> for a given macroimage of a gravitationally lensed point source due to microlensing by the stars of the lensing galaxy. This quantity was calculated by Wambsganss, Witt, and Schneider in 1992 for the case of zero external shear, ;=0, at the location of the macroimage. Since in realistic lens models a nonzero shear is expected to be induced by the lensing galaxy, we extend this calculation to a general value of ;. We find a complex behavior of <n> as a function of ; and the normalized surface mass density in stars, ;*. Specifically, we find that at high magnifications, where the average total magnification of the macroimage is <;>=|(1-;*)2- ;2|-1>>1, <n> becomes correspondingly large and is proportional to <;>. The ratio <n>/ <;> is largest near the line ;=1-;*, where the magnification <;> becomes infinite, and its maximal value is 0.306. We compare our semianalytic results for <n> with the results of numerical simulations and find good agreement. We find that the probability distribution for the number of extra microimage pairs is reasonably described by a Poisson distribution with a mean value of <n> and that the width of the macroimage magnification distribution tends to be largest for <n>~1.
Portal alumni
(2004)
Liebe Leserin, lieber Leser, weit weg wollen wir Sie mit der ersten Ausgabe unseres Magazins Portal alumni entführen. Nach dem wir im Mai des vergangenen Jahres auf die Suche nach Ehemaligen der Universität Potsdam gingen, stellten wir fest, dass es Absolventen der Hochschule in alle Himmelsrichtungen verschlagen hat, nach Australien, Afrika oder Amerika. Aus ganz unterschiedlichen Gründen haben Ehemalige ihre Koffer gepackt, und uns hat interessiert, wie sie es geschafft haben, nach dem Studium ins Ausland zu gehen und welche Erfahrungen sie dabei gemacht haben. Herausgekommen sind neben spannenden Geschichten viele persönliche Empfehlungen zu den Themen Berufseinstieg und Mobilität. Und neben den Erfahrungen einiger unserer Absolventen mit einem "internationalen Berufseinstieg" interessierte es uns auch zu erfahren, wie sich Professoren der Universität Potsdam um ihre Ehemaligen kümmern und kümmern wollen. Von Seiten vieler Absolventen erhielten wir Signale, dass sie neben der Kommunikation untereinander Interesse daran haben, Neuigkeiten aus ihrer noch gar nicht so alten Alma mater zu erhalten. Mit unserem ersten Magazin fangen wir damit an, einen Rückblick über besondere Ereignisse des vergangenen Jahres zusammenzustellen. Und natürlich wollen wir mit den einzelnen Ausgaben von Portal alumni unseren Ehemaligen viele Tipps, Informationen und Links zu Weiterbildung, Jobs, Karrierestart und anderen Themen für den weiteren beruflichen Weg geben. Die Redaktion wünscht Ihnen nun viel Spaß bei der Lektüre.
Microlensing is the only known direct method to measure the masses of stars that lack visible companions. In terms of microlensing observables, the mass is given by M (c(2)/4G)(r) over tilde (E)theta(E) and so requires the measurement of both the angular Einstein radius theta(E) and the projected Einstein radius (r) over tilde (E). Simultaneous measurement of these two parameters is extremely rare. Here we analyze OGLE-2003-BLG-238, a spectacularly bright (I-min 10.3), high-magnification (A(max) 170) microlensing event. Pronounced finite-source effects permit a measurement of theta(E) = 650 muas. Although the timescale of the event is only t(E) 38 days, one can still obtain weak constraints on the microlens parallax: 4.4 AU < <(r)over tilde>(E) < 18 AU at the 1 σ level. Together these two parameter measurements yield a range for the lens mass of 0.36 M-&ODOT; < M < 1.48 M-&ODOT;. As was the case for MACHO- LMC-5, the only other single star (apart from the Sun) whose mass has been determined from its gravitational effects, this estimate is rather crude. It does, however, demonstrate the viability of the technique. We also discuss future prospects for single-lens mass measurements
First, we review the current status of the detection of strong `external' variability in the CLASS gravitational B1600+434, focusing on the 1998 VLA 8.5-GHz and 1998/9 WSRT multi-frequency observations. We show that this data can best be explained in terms of radio-microlensing. We then proceed to show some preliminary results from our new multi-frequency VLA monitoring program, in particular the detection of a strong feature (~30%) in the light curve of the lensed image which passes predominantly through the dark-matter halo of the lens galaxy. We tentatively interpret this event, which lasted for several weeks, as a radio-microlensing caustic crossing, i.e. the superluminal motion of a micro-arcsec-scale jet-component in the lensed source over a single caustic in the magnification pattern, that has been created by massive compact objects along the line-of-sight to the lensed image.
The declining light curve of the optical afterglow of gamma-ray burst (GRB) GRB000301C showed rapid variability with one particularly bright feature at about t-t0=3.8d. This event was interpreted as gravitational microlensing by Garnavich, Loeb & Stanek and subsequently used to derive constraints on the structure of the GRB optical afterglow. In this paper, we use these structural parameters to calculate the probability of such a microlensing event in a realistic scenario, where all compact objects in the universe are associated with observable galaxies. For GRB000301C at a redshift of z=2.04, the a posteriori probability for a microlensing event with an amplitude of m>=0.95mag (as observed) is 0.7 per cent (2.7 per cent) for the most plausible scenario of a flat -dominated Friedmann- Robertson-Walker (FRW) universe with m=0.3 and a fraction f*=0.2 (1.0) of dark matter in the form of compact objects. If we lower the magnification threshold to m>=0.10mag, the probabilities for microlensing events of GRB afterglows increase to 17 per cent (57 per cent). We emphasize that this low probability for a microlensing signature of almost 1mag does not exclude that the observed event in the afterglow light curve of GRB000301C was caused by microlensing, especially in light of the fact that a galaxy was found within 2arcsec from the GRB. In that case, however, a more robust upper limit on the a posteriori probability of ~5 per cent is found. It does show, however, that it will not be easy to create a large sample of strong GRB afterglow microlensing events for statistical studies of their physical conditions on microarcsec scales.