Search arXiv⌕ Search

arXiv subjects

T. Sprent

Publications and source records attributed to T. Sprent.

1 recordsLinked to original sources

OGLE-2015-BLG-1395Lb: A Cold Sub-Saturn Mass Planet Orbiting an M Dwarf

We present an analysis of the high-magnification microlensing event OGLE-2015-BLG-1395 and report the discovery of a sub-Saturn mass companion to the lens. Photometric coverage of the planetary anomaly in the light curve was obtained from the University of Tasmania's Harlingten 1.27m telescope. Additional data were obtained following the peak from several other observatories, allowing photometric calibration and color measurement of the source. Fits to the light curve reveal a companion with mass ratio of q = 0.00062 +/- 0.00007 and two degenerate solutions for the projected separation, s = 1.7 +/-0.1 or 0.59 +/-0.04 Einstein ring radii. Source and lens parameters are further constrained by Subaru and Keck adaptive optics (AO) imaging in 2016. Finite source effects and AO flux constraints allow us to determine the planet and host star parameters to better than a factor of 2. The system is an ~0.2 Jupiter-mass planet orbiting an ~0.25 solar mass (early-mid M-dwarf) main-sequence star in the Galactic disk, at a distance of ~2 kpc. The two degenerate solutions from the light curve both place the planet beyond the snow line. As a cold sub-Saturn around an M dwarf, OGLE-2015-BLG-1395Lb is in possible conflict with core accretion theory. Spitzer photometry from the time of the event is consistent with this conclusion, although highly uncertain due to faintness and crowding. The inferred relative proper motion of 9.4 mas/yr is consistent with a source star in the bulge and a lens in the disk, and predicts that the source and lens could be resolved a decade after the event.

astro-ph.EP↗