The advantages of using a Lucky Imaging camera for observations of microlensing events

TL;DR

This paper demonstrates that Lucky Imaging cameras significantly improve the detection efficiency of Earth-mass exoplanets in microlensing events by reducing blending effects and enhancing signals in crowded fields.

Contribution

It introduces the use of Lucky Imaging in microlensing observations and quantifies its effectiveness in detecting low-mass exoplanets.

Findings

Lucky Imaging improves detection efficiency by up to 2% for Earth-mass planets.

It reduces blending effects in crowded-field microlensing observations.

The method is particularly effective in the resonance regime where detection is challenging.

Abstract

In this work, we study the advantages of using a Lucky Imaging camera for the observations of potential planetary microlensing events. Our aim is to reduce the blending effect and enhance exoplanet signals in binary lensing systems composed of an exoplanet and the corresponding parent star. We simulate planetary microlensing light curves based on present microlensing surveys and follow-up telescopes where one of them is equipped with a Lucky imaging camera. This camera is used at the Danish $1.54$-m follow-up telescope. Using a specific observational strategy, For an Earth-mass planet in the resonance regime, where the detection probability in crowded-fields is smaller, lucky imaging observations improve the detection efficiency which reaches 2 per cent. Given the difficulty of detecting the signal of an Earth-mass planet in crowded-field imaging even in the resonance regime with conventional cameras, we show that Lucky Imaging can substantially improve the detection efficiency.