Spitzer Microlensing Parallax for OGLE-2016-BLG-1067: a sub-Jupiter Orbiting an M-dwarf in the Disk

TL;DR

This paper reports the discovery of a sub-Jupiter planet orbiting an M-dwarf in the Galactic disk via microlensing, utilizing Spitzer and ground-based data to constrain the system's parameters despite degeneracies.

Contribution

It presents a detailed analysis of a microlensing event with novel methods to resolve degeneracies and determine the physical characteristics of a sub-Jupiter planet around an M-dwarf.

Findings

Detected a Saturn-like planet beyond the snow line of an M-dwarf.

Constrained the host star at about 3.7 kpc with a mass of ~0.3 M_sun.

Estimated the planet's mass at ~0.43 M_Jup and its orbit at ~1.7 au.

Abstract

We report the discovery of a sub-Jupiter mass planet orbiting beyond the snow line of an M-dwarf most likely in the Galactic disk as part of the joint Spitzer and ground-based monitoring of microlensing planetary anomalies toward the Galactic bulge. The microlensing parameters are strongly constrained by the light curve modeling and in particular by the Spitzer-based measurement of the microlens parallax, $\pi_\mathrm{E}$. However, in contrast to many planetary microlensing events, there are no caustic crossings, so the angular Einstein radius, $\theta_\mathrm{E}$ has only an upper limit based on the light curve modeling alone. Additionally, the analysis leads us to identify 8 degenerate configurations: the four-fold microlensing parallax degeneracy being doubled by a degeneracy in the caustic structure present at the level of the ground-based solutions. To pinpoint the physical parameters, and at the same time to break the parallax degeneracy, we make use of a series of arguments: the $\chi^2$ hierarchy, the Rich argument, and a prior Galactic model. The preferred configuration is for a host at $D_L=3.73_{-0.67}^{+0.66}~\mathrm{kpc}$ with mass $M_\mathrm{L}=0.30_{-0.12}^{+0.15}~\mathrm{M_\odot}$, orbited by a Saturn-like planet with $M_\mathrm{planet}=0.43_{-0.17}^{+0.21}~\mathrm{M_\mathrm{Jup}}$ at projected separation $a_\perp = 1.70_{-0.39}^{+0.38}~\mathrm{au}$, about 2.1 times beyond the system snow line. Therefore, it adds to the growing population of sub-Jupiter planets orbiting near or beyond the snow line of M-dwarfs discovered by microlensing. Based on the rules of the real-time protocol for the selection of events to be followed up with Spitzer, this planet will not enter the sample for measuring the Galactic distribution of planets.