Microlensing Discovery and Characterization Efficiency in the Vera C. Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time

• Autores: Abrams, Natasha S.; Hundertmark, Markus P. G.; Khakpash, Somayeh; Street, Rachel A.; Jones, R. Lynne; Lu, Jessica R.; Bachelet, Etienne; Tsapras, Yiannis; Moniez, Marc; Blaineau, Tristan; Di Stefano, Rosanne; Makler, Martín; Varela, Anibal; Rabus, Markus
• Año de publicación: 2024
• Idioma: inglés
• Tipo de recurso: artículo
• Materia: Gravitational microlensing; Galactic bulge; The Milky Way; Sky surveys; Optical astronomy; Optical observation; Time domain astronomy; Astrophysics - Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics; Astrophysics - Astrophysics of Galaxies; Astrophysics - Solar and Stellar Astrophysics
• Institución: Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas

The Vera C. Rubin Legacy Survey of Space and Time will discover thousands of microlensing events across the Milky Way, allowing for the study of populations of exoplanets, stars, and compact objects. We evaluate numerous survey strategies simulated in the Rubin Operation Simulations to assess the discovery and characterization efficiencies of microlensing events. We have implemented three metrics in the Rubin Metric Analysis Framework: a discovery metric and two characterization metrics, where one estimates how well the light curve is covered and the other quantifies how precisely event parameters can be determined. We also assess the characterizability of microlensing parallax, critical for detection of free-floating black hole lenses. We find that, given Rubin’s baseline cadence, the discovery and characterization efficiency will be higher for longer-duration and larger-parallax events. Microlensing discovery efficiency is dominated by the observing footprint, where more time spent looking at regions of high stellar density, including the Galactic bulge, Galactic plane, and Magellanic Clouds, leads to higher discovery and characterization rates. However, if the observations are stretched over too wide an area, including low-priority areas of the Galactic plane with fewer stars and higher extinction, event characterization suffers by >10%. This could impact exoplanet, binary star, and compact object events alike. We find that some rolling strategies (where Rubin focuses on a fraction of the sky in alternating years) in the Galactic bulge can lead to a 15%–20% decrease in microlensing parallax characterization, so rolling strategies should be chosen carefully to minimize losses.
Fil: Abrams, Natasha S.. University of California at Berkeley; Estados Unidos
Fil: Hundertmark, Markus P. G.. Ruprecht Karls Universitat Heidelberg. Fakultat für Physik and Astronomie; Alemania
Fil: Khakpash, Somayeh. Rutgers University; Estados Unidos
Fil: Street, Rachel A.. Las Cumbres Observatory; Estados Unidos
Fil: Jones, R. Lynne. Aerotek and Rubin Observatory; Estados Unidos
Fil: Lu, Jessica R.. University of California at Berkeley; Estados Unidos
Fil: Bachelet, Etienne. Ipac; Estados Unidos
Fil: Tsapras, Yiannis. Ruprecht Karls Universitat Heidelberg. Fakultat für Physik and Astronomie; Alemania
Fil: Moniez, Marc. Universite Paris-Saclay ;
Fil: Blaineau, Tristan. Universite Paris-Saclay ;
Fil: Di Stefano, Rosanne. Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics; Estados Unidos
Fil: Makler, Martín. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto de Ciencias Fisicas. - Universidad Nacional de San Martin. Instituto de Ciencias Fisicas.; Argentina
Fil: Varela, Anibal. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Cientificas y Tecnicas. Instituto de Ciencias Fisicas. - Universidad Nacional de San Martin. Instituto de Ciencias Fisicas.; Argentina
Fil: Rabus, Markus. Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción; Chile