Rybicki, KA;
Wyrzykowski, L;
Bachelet, E;
Cassan, A;
Zielinski, P;
Gould, A;
Novati, SC;
... Ziolkowska, O; + view all
(2022)
Single-lens mass measurement in the high-magnification microlensing event Gaia 19bld located in the Galactic disc.
Astronomy & Astrophysics
, 657
, Article A18. 10.1051/0004-6361/202039542.
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Abstract
CONTEXT: Microlensing provides a unique opportunity to detect non-luminous objects. In the rare cases that the Einstein radius θ_{E} and microlensing parallax π_{E} can be measured, it is possible to determine the mass of the lens. With technological advances in both ground- and space-based observatories, astrometric and interferometric measurements are becoming viable, which can lead to the more routine determination of θ_{E} and, if the microlensing parallax is also measured, the mass of the lens. AIMS: We present the photometric analysis of Gaia19bld, a high-magnification (A ≈ 60) microlensing event located in the southern Galactic plane, which exhibited finite source and microlensing parallax effects. Due to a prompt detection by the Gaia satellite and the very high brightness of I = 9.05 mag at the peak, it was possible to collect a complete and unique set of multi-channel follow-up observations, which allowed us to determine all parameters vital for the characterisation of the lens and the source in the microlensing event. METHODS: Gaia19bld was discovered by the Gaia satellite and was subsequently intensively followed up with a network of ground-based observatories and the Spitzer Space Telescope. We collected multiple high-resolution spectra with Very Large Telescope (VLT)/X-shooter to characterise the source star. The event was also observed with VLT Interferometer (VLTI)/PIONIER during the peak. Here we focus on the photometric observations and model the light curve composed of data from Gaia, Spitzer, and multiple optical, ground-based observatories. We find the best-fitting solution with parallax and finite source effects. We derived the limit on the luminosity of the lens based on the blended light model and spectroscopic distance. RESULTS: We compute the mass of the lens to be 1.13 ± 0.03 M_{⊙} and derive its distance to be 5.52_{−0.64}^{+0.35} kpc. The lens is likely a main sequence star, however its true nature has yet to be verified by future high-resolution observations. Our results are consistent with interferometric measurements of the angular Einstein radius, emphasising that interferometry can be a new channel for determining the masses of objects that would otherwise remain undetectable, including stellar-mass black holes.
| Type: | Article |
|---|---|
| Title: | Single-lens mass measurement in the high-magnification microlensing event Gaia 19bld located in the Galactic disc |
| Open access status: | An open access version is available from UCL Discovery |
| DOI: | 10.1051/0004-6361/202039542 |
| Publisher version: | https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202039542 |
| Language: | English |
| Additional information: | This version is the version of record. For information on re-use, please refer to the publisher's terms and conditions. |
| Keywords: | gravitational lensing: micro, stars: fundamental parameters, white dwarfs, stars: neutron |
| UCL classification: | UCL UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences UCL > Provost and Vice Provost Offices > UCL BEAMS > Faculty of Maths and Physical Sciences > Dept of Physics and Astronomy |
| URI: | https://discovery.ucl.ac.uk/id/eprint/10142063 |
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