Several exoplanets have been detected towards the Galactic bulge with the microlensing technique. We show that exoplanets in M31 may also be detected with the pixel-lensing method, if telescopes making high cadence observations of an ongoing microlensing event are used. Using a Monte Carlo approach we find that the mean mass for detectable planetary systems is about 2 M J. However, even small mass exoplanets ({M_P < 20 M_{oplus}}) can cause significant deviations, which are observable with large telescopes. We reanalysed the POINT-AGAPE microlensing event PA-99-N2. First, we test the robustness of the binary lens conclusion for this light curve. Second, we show that for such long duration and bright microlensing events, the efficiency for finding planetary-like deviations is strongly enhanced with respect to that evaluated for all planetary detectable events.

Search for exoplanets in M31 with pixel-lensing and the PA-99-N2 event revisited

INGROSSO, Gabriele;DE PAOLIS, Francesco;NUCITA, Achille;
2011-01-01

Abstract

Several exoplanets have been detected towards the Galactic bulge with the microlensing technique. We show that exoplanets in M31 may also be detected with the pixel-lensing method, if telescopes making high cadence observations of an ongoing microlensing event are used. Using a Monte Carlo approach we find that the mean mass for detectable planetary systems is about 2 M J. However, even small mass exoplanets ({M_P < 20 M_{oplus}}) can cause significant deviations, which are observable with large telescopes. We reanalysed the POINT-AGAPE microlensing event PA-99-N2. First, we test the robustness of the binary lens conclusion for this light curve. Second, we show that for such long duration and bright microlensing events, the efficiency for finding planetary-like deviations is strongly enhanced with respect to that evaluated for all planetary detectable events.
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11587/350073
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