Stellar rotation effects in polarimetric microlensing

TL;DR

This paper explores how stellar rotation influences polarization signals in microlensing events, proposing methods to measure stellar ellipticity and gravity-darkening effects using polarimetry, with implications for future high-precision observations.

Contribution

It introduces the impact of stellar rotation on polarization signals in microlensing and suggests how future polarimeters can measure stellar ellipticity and gravity-darkening effects.

Findings

Polarization signals are enhanced in hot, fast-rotating stars during microlensing.

Rotation-induced effects cause measurable asymmetries in polarization and photometry curves.

Next-generation polarimeters could detect these effects and determine stellar ellipticity.

Abstract

It is well known that the polarization signal in microlensing events of hot stars is larger than that of main-sequence stars. Most hot stars rapidly rotate around their stellar axes. The stellar rotation makes ellipticity and gravity-darkening effects which break the spherical symmetry of the source shape and the circular symmetry of the source surface brightness respectively. Hence, it causes a net polarization signal for the source star. This polarization signal should be considered in polarimetry microlensing of fast rotating stars. For moderate rotating stars, lensing can magnify or even characterize small polarization signals due to the stellar rotation through polarimetry observations. The gravity-darkening effect due to a rotating source star makes asymmetric perturbations in polarimetry and photometry microlensing curves whose maximum happens when the lens trajectory crosses the projected position of the rotation pole on the sky plane. The stellar ellipticity makes a time shift (i) in the position of the second peak of the polarimetry curves in transit microlensing events and (ii) in the peak position of the polarimetry curves with respect to the photometry peak position in bypass microlensing events. By measuring this time shift via polarimetry observations of microlensing events, we can evaluate the ellipticity of the projected source surface on the sky plane. Given the characterizations of the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph (FORS2) polarimeter at Very Large Telescope (VLT) telescope, the probability of observing this time shift is so small. The more accurate polarimeters of the next generation may likely measure these time shifts and evaluate the ellipticity of microlensing source stars.