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

April 2011 • 2011GReGr..43.1047I

Authors • Ingrosso, Gabriele • Novati, Sebastiano Calchi • de Paolis, Francesco • Jetzer, Philippe • Nucita, Achille • Zakharov, Alexander

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_{⊕}}) 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.

Links

• PREPRINT http://arxiv.org/abs/1001.4342
• ELECTR https://doi.org/10.1007%2Fs10714-010-0942-3