arXiv subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M. Dominik.
Though there have been some galactic microlensing events which show a clear signature of a binary lens, no event has yet been claimed as due to lensing of a binary source. Here I argue that this may be due to the fact that most of the binary source events show light curves which can be fitted with the simpler model of a blended single source.
For a given spatial distribution of the lenses and distribution of the transverse velocity of the lens relative to the line-of-sight, a probability distribution for the lens mass for a single observed event is derived. In addition, similar probability distributions are derived for the Einstein radius and the separation of the lens objects and their rotation period for a binary lens. These probability distributions are distinct from the distributions for the lens population, as investigated e.g. by the mass moment method of De Rujula, Jetzer, and Masso (1991). However, it is shown that the expectation value for the mass from the probability distribution coincides with the value from the mass moment method applied to a single observed event. The special cases of a Maxwellian velocity distribution and of a constant velocity are discussed in detail. For a rudimentary model of the Galactic halo, the probability distributions are shown and the relations between the expectation values of the physical quantities and the event timescale are given. For this model, it is shown that within a 95.4%-interval around the expectation value, the mass varies by a factor of 800.
The influence of rotating binary systems on the light curves of galactic microlensing events is studied. Three different rotating binary systems are discussed: a rotating binary lens, a rotating binary source, and the motion of the earth around the sun (parallax effect). The most dramatic effects arise from the motion of a binary lens because of the changes of the caustic structure with time. I discuss when the treatment of a microlensing event with a static binary model is appropriate. It is shown that additional constraints on the unknown physical quantities of the lens system arise from a fit with a rotating binary lens as well as from the earth-around-sun motion. For the DUO#2 event, a fit with a rotating binary lens is presented.