Estimating the number of microlensing events observed in different parts of the Galactic bulge is a crucial point in planning microlensing experiments. Reliable estimates are especially important if ...observing resources are scarce, as is the case for space missions: K2, WFIRST, and Euclid. Here we show that the number of detected events can be reliably estimated based on statistics of stars observed in targeted fields. The statistics can be estimated relatively easily, which makes presented method suitable for planning future microlensing experiments.
The Milky Way is a barred spiral galaxy, with physical properties inferred from various tracers informed by the extrapolation of structures seen in other galaxies. However, the distances of these ...tracers are measured indirectly and are model-dependent. We constructed a map of the Milky Way in three dimensions, based on the positions and distances of thousands of classical Cepheid variable stars. This map shows the structure of our Galaxy's young stellar population and allows us to constrain the warped shape of the Milky Way's disk. A simple model of star formation in the spiral arms reproduces the observed distribution of Cepheids.
Double-mode RR Lyr type stars are important for studies of properties of horizontal-branch stars. In particular, two periods coupled with spectral properties give a mass estimate that is independent ...of evolutionary models. Here, we present 59 new Galactic double-mode RR Lyr stars found in the LINEAR survey data with the fundamental radial mode and the first overtone exited (RRd stars). These stars may be useful for constraining the mass-metallicity relation for field horizontal-branch stars. Also, new RRd stars found in the LMC by EROS-II are verified. We present the updated Petersen diagram and the distribution of the fundamental mode periods. Comments on selected variable stars from LINEAR and LMC EROS-II surveys are also presented, including very rare objects: the third known mode-switching RR Lyr and a Cepheid pulsating simultaneously in three radial modes.
Flat rotation curves of spiral galaxies are considered as an evidence for dark matter, but the rotation curve of the Milky Way is difficult to measure. Various objects were used to track the rotation ...curve in the outer parts of the Galaxy, but most studies rely on incomplete kinematical information and inaccurate distances. Here, we use a sample of 773 Classical Cepheids with precise distances based on mid-infrared period-luminosity relations coupled with proper motions and radial velocities from Gaia to construct the accurate rotation curve of the Milky Way up to the distance of ∼20 kpc from the Galactic center. We use a simple model of Galactic rotation to measure the rotation speed of the Sun Θ0 = 233.6 2.8 km s−1, assuming a prior on the distance to the Galactic center R0 = 8.122 0.031 kpc from the GRAVITY Collaboration. The rotation curve at Galactocentric distances 4 R 20 kpc is nearly flat with a small gradient of −1.34 0.21 km s−1 kpc−1. This is the most accurate Galactic rotation curve at distances R > 12 kpc constructed so far.
Planet formation theories predict that some planets may be ejected from their parent systems as result of dynamical interactions and other processes. Unbound planets can also be formed through ...gravitational collapse, in a way similar to that in which stars form. A handful of free-floating planetary-mass objects have been discovered by infrared surveys of young stellar clusters and star-forming regions as well as wide-field surveys, but these studies are incomplete for objects below five Jupiter masses. Gravitational microlensing is the only method capable of exploring the entire population of free-floating planets down to Mars-mass objects, because the microlensing signal does not depend on the brightness of the lensing object. A characteristic timescale of microlensing events depends on the mass of the lens: the less massive the lens, the shorter the microlensing event. A previous analysis of 474 microlensing events found an excess of ten very short events (1-2 days)-more than known stellar populations would suggest-indicating the existence of a large population of unbound or wide-orbit Jupiter-mass planets (reported to be almost twice as common as main-sequence stars). These results, however, do not match predictions of planet-formation theories and surveys of young clusters. Here we analyse a sample of microlensing events six times larger than that of ref. 11 discovered during the years 2010-15. Although our survey has very high sensitivity (detection efficiency) to short-timescale (1-2 days) microlensing events, we found no excess of events with timescales in this range, with a 95 per cent upper limit on the frequency of Jupiter-mass free-floating or wide-orbit planets of 0.25 planets per main-sequence star. We detected a few possible ultrashort-timescale events (with timescales of less than half a day), which may indicate the existence of Earth-mass and super-Earth-mass free-floating planets, as predicted by planet-formation theories.
We present and study the largest and most comprehensive catalog of microlensing events ever constructed. The sample of standard microlensing events comprises 3718 unique events from 2001-2009 with ...1409 events that had not been detected before in real-time by the Early Warning System of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. The search pipeline uses machine learning algorithms to help find rare phenomena among 150 million objects and to derive the detection efficiency. Applications of the catalog can be numerous, from analyzing individual events to large statistical studies of the Galactic mass, kinematics distributions, and planetary abundances. We derive maps of the mean Einstein ring crossing time of events spanning 31 deg super(2) toward the Galactic center and compare the observed distributions with the most recent models. We find good agreement within the observed region and we see the signature of the tilt of the bar in the microlensing data. However, the asymmetry of the mean timescales seems to rise more steeply than predicted, indicating either a somewhat different orientation of the bar or a larger bar width. The map of events with sources in the Galactic bulge shows a dependence of the mean timescale on the Galactic latitude, signaling an increasing contribution from disk lenses closer to the plane relative to the height of the disk. Our data present a perfect set for comparing and enhancing new models of the central parts of the Milky Way and creating a three-dimensional picture of the Galaxy.
The number and properties of observed gravitational microlensing events depend on the distribution and kinematics of stars and other compact objects along the line of sight. In particular, precise ...measurements of the microlensing optical depth and event rate toward the Galactic bulge enable strict tests of competing models of the Milky Way. Previous estimates, based on samples of up to a few hundred events, gave larger values than expected from the Galactic models and were difficult to reconcile with other constraints on the Galactic structure. Here we used long-term photometric observations of the Galactic bulge by the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment (OGLE) to select a homogeneous sample of 8000 gravitational microlensing events. We created the largest and most accurate microlensing optical depth and event rate maps of the Galactic bulge. The new maps ease the tension between the previous measurements and Galactic models. They are consistent with some earlier calculations based on bright stars and are systematically ∼30% smaller than the other estimates based on "all-source" samples of microlensing events. The difference is caused by the careful estimation of the source star population. The new maps agree well with predictions based on the Besançon model of the Galaxy. Apart from testing the Milky Way models, our maps may have numerous other applications, such as the measurement of the initial mass function or constraining the dark matter content in the Milky Way center. The new maps will also inform the planning of future space-based microlensing experiments by revising the expected number of events.
We combine VI photometry from OGLE-III with VISTA Variables in The Via Lactea survey and Two Micron All Sky Survey measurements of E(J -Ks) to resolve the longstanding problem of the non-standard ...optical extinction toward the Galactic bulge. We show that the extinction is well fit by the relation AI = 0.7465xE(V - I) + 1.3700xE(J - KS), or, equivalently, AI = 1.217 x E(V - I)(1 + 1.126x(E(J - KS)/E(V -I) - 0.3433)). The optical and near-IR reddening law toward the inner Galaxy approximately follows an RV approximate 2.5 extinction curve with a dispersion sigmaRV approximate 0.2, consistent with extragalactic investigations of the hosts of Type Ia SNe. Differential reddening is shown to be significant on scales as small as our mean field size of 6'. The intrinsic luminosity parameters of the Galactic bulge red clump (RC) are derived to be (MI,RC, sigmaI,RC,0, (V - I) sub(RC,0), sigma sub(()V-I)RC, (J - KS) sub(RC,0 )) = (-0.12, 0.09, 1.06, 0.121, 0.66). Our measurements of the RC brightness, brightness dispersion, and number counts allow us to estimate several Galactic bulge structural parameters. We estimate a distance to the Galactic center of 8.20 kpc. We measure an upper bound on the tilt alpha approximate 40degrees between the bulge's major axis and the Sun-Galactic center line of sight, though our brightness peaks are consistent with predictions of an N-body model oriented at alpha approximate 25degrees. The number of RC stars suggests a total stellar mass for the Galactic bulge of ~2.3 x 10 super(10) M sub(middot in circle) if one assumes a canonical Salpeter initial mass function (IMF), or ~1.6 x 10 super(10) M sub(middot in circle) if one assumes a bottom-light Zoccali IMF.
We investigate interstellar extinction curve variations towards ∼4 deg2 of the inner Milky Way in VIJKs
photometry from the OGLE-III (third phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment) and ...VVV (VISTA Variables in the Via Lactea) surveys, with supporting evidence from diffuse interstellar bands and F435W, F625W photometry. We obtain independent measurements towards ∼2000 sightlines of AI, E(V − I), E(I − J) and E(J − Ks
), with median precision and accuracy of 2 per cent. We find that the variations in the extinction ratios AI
/E(V − I), E(I − J)/E(V − I) and E(J − Ks
)/E(V − I) are large (exceeding 20 per cent), significant and positively correlated, as expected. However, both the mean values and the trends in these extinction ratios are drastically shifted from the predictions of Cardelli and Fitzpatrick, regardless of how RV
is varied. Furthermore, we demonstrate that variations in the shape of the extinction curve have at least two degrees of freedom, and not one (e.g. RV
), which we confirm with a principal component analysis. We derive a median value of 〈AV
/AKs
〉 = 13.44, which is ∼60 per cent higher than the ‘standard’ value. We show that the Wesenheit magnitude WI
= I − 1.61(I − J) is relatively impervious to extinction curve variations. Given that these extinction curves are linchpins of observational cosmology, and that it is generally assumed that RV
variations correctly capture variations in the extinction curve, we argue that systematic errors in the distance ladder from studies of Type Ia supernovae and Cepheids may have been underestimated. Moreover, the reddening maps from the Planck experiment are shown to systematically overestimate dust extinction by ∼100 per cent and lack sensitivity to extinction curve variations.
DOUBLE MODE CEPHEIDS IN M31 Poleski, Radoslaw
The Astrophysical journal,
12/2013, Letnik:
778, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Until now, double mode Cepheids (or beat Cepheids) were known only in the Galaxy, the Magellanic Clouds, and M33. Curiously, none of the more than 2000 Cepheids in M31 was claimed to show two ...pulsation modes. We conducted a systematic search for double mode Cepheids in the archival data of M31 and discovered four such objects. We identify one of the stars as a first and second overtone pulsator even though its secondary period is subject to strong aliasing. Two stars pulsate in the fundamental mode and the first overtone. Their fundamental periods are 9.392 days and 9.163 days. This makes them the first candidates for fundamental mode and first overtone Cepheids, of which double mode pulsations are caused by the 2:1 resonance of the fundamental mode and the second overtone.
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