arXiv subjects

Renkun Kuang

Publications and source records attributed to Renkun Kuang.

9 recordsLinked to original sources

arXiv2025

KMT-2022-BLG-1818Lb,c: A Cold Super-Jupiter with a Saturn Sibling

We present the discovery and analysis of the sixth microlensing two-planet system, KMT-2022-BLG-1818Lb,c, detected by a follow-up program targeting high-magnification events. Both planets are subject to the well-known ''Close/Wide'' degeneracy, although for the first planet, which has a super-Jovian mass ratio of $q_2 \simeq 5\times 10^{-3}$ in both solutions, the Close topology, with a normalized separation of $s\simeq 0.70$, is clearly preferred by $\Delta\chi^2=26$. However, contrary to all previous two-planet microlensing systems, the mass ratio for the second planet, $q_3$, is substantially (factor of $\sim 10$) different for the Close and Wide topologies of the first planet. While this degeneracy is resolved in the present case due to high-cadence follow-up observations, the appearance of this new degeneracy indicates the need for caution in the analysis of future two-planet systems. A Bayesian analysis suggests that the host is likely a K-dwarf star in the Galactic disk. The first planet is probably a super-Jupiter on a Jupiter-like orbit, while the second planet is a Saturn-class planet on either a Mercury-like or Saturn-like orbit.

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arXiv2025

Microlensing events indicate that super-Earth exoplanets are common in Jupiter-like orbits

Exoplanets classified as super-Earths are commonly observed on short period orbits, close to their host stars, but their abundance on wider orbits is poorly constrained. Gravitational microlensing is sensitive to exoplanets on wide orbits. We observed the microlensing event OGLE-2016-BLG-0007, which indicates an exoplanet with a planet-to-star mass ratio roughly double the Earth-Sun mass-ratio, on an orbit longer than Saturn's. We combine this event with a larger sample from a microlensing survey to determine the distribution of mass ratios for planets on wide orbits. We infer there are $\sim 0.35$ super-Earth planets per star on Jupiter-like orbits. The observations are most consistent with a bimodal distribution, with separate peaks for super-Earths and gas giants. We suggest that this reflects differences in their formation processes.

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arXiv2025

Systematic KMTNet Planetary Anomaly Search. XII. Complete Sample of 2017 Subprime Field Planets

We report the analysis of four unambiguous planets and one possible planet from the subprime fields ($\Gamma \leq 1~{\rm hr}^{-1}$) of the 2017 Korea Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) microlensing survey, to complete the KMTNet AnomalyFinder planetary sample for the 2017 subprime fields. They are KMT-2017-BLG-0849, KMT-2017-BLG-1057, OGLE-2017-BLG-0364, and KMT-2017-BLG-2331 (unambiguous), as well as KMT-2017-BLG-0958 (possible). For the four unambiguous planets, the mean planet-host mass ratios, $q$, are $(1.0, 1.2, 4.6, 13) \times 10^{-4}$, the median planetary masses are $(6.4, 24, 76, 171)~M_{\oplus}$ and the median host masses are $(0.19, 0.57, 0.49, 0.40)~M_{\odot}$ from a Bayesian analysis. We have completed the AnomalyFinder planetary sample from the first 4-year KMTNet data (2016--2019), with 112 unambiguous planets in total, which nearly tripled the microlensing planetary sample. The ``sub-Saturn desert'' ($\log q = \left[-3.6, -3.0\right]$) found in the 2018 and 2019 KMTNet samples is confirmed by the 2016 and 2017 KMTNet samples.

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arXiv2025

Systematic Search for FFPs in KMTNet Full-Frame Images. I. Photometry Pipeline

To exhume the buried signatures of free-floating planets (FFPs) with small angular Einstein radius $\theta_{\rm E}$, we build a new full-frame difference image pipeline for the Korean Microlensing Telescope Network (KMTNet) survey based on the newly optimized pySIS package. We introduce the detailed processes of the new pipeline, including frame registration, difference image analysis, and light curve extraction. To test this pipeline, we extract 1-year light curves for 483,068 stars with $I \lesssim 17$ and conduct a model-independent search for microlensing events. The search finds 36 microlensing events, including five new events and six events discovered by other collaborations but missed by previous KMTNet searches. We find that the light curves from the new pipeline are precise enough to be sensitive to FFPs with $\theta_{\rm E} \sim 1~\mu$as. Using the new pipeline, a complete FFP search on the eight-year KMTNet images can be finished within six months and then yield the FFP mass function. The new pipeline can be used for a new KMTNet AlertFinder system, with significantly reduced false positives.

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arXiv2024

How Rare are TESS Free-Floating Planets?

Recently, Kunimoto et al. claimed that a short-lived signal in the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) Sector 61 database was possibly caused by a microlensing event with a terrestrial-mass free-floating planet (FFP) lens. In this study, we investigate TESS's ability to detect microlensing FFPs by considering the detailed source information (e.g., distance and radius), the TESS photometric accuracy, and finite-source effects. Using the FFP mass function from microlensing surveys toward the Galactic bulge, we find that only $0.0018$ microlensing events are expected to be detected in TESS Sector 61 for the entire planetary mass range. The reported signal is unlikely to be a real microlensing event, which is consistent with the evidence from the long-term OGLE data that the signal was likely due to a stellar flare. By extrapolating our result to fainter stars until $T = 16$ mag and adopting a possible optimized search algorithm, we find that only $\sim 1$ FFP events can be detected in the entire TESS mission within the first 7 years. Significant improvments of our understanding of FFPs still requires future satellite missions, such as Roman and Earth 2.0, which can detect thousands of FFPs.

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arXiv2023

OGLE-2017-BLG-0448Lb: A Low Mass-Ratio Wide-Orbit Microlensing Planet?

The gravitational microlensing technique is most sensitive to planets in a Jupiter-like orbit and has detected more than 200 planets. However, only a few wide-orbit ($s > 2$) microlensing planets have been discovered, where $s$ is the planet-to-host separation normalized to the angular Einstein ring radius, $θ_{\rm E}$. Here we present the discovery and analysis of a strong candidate wide-orbit microlensing planet in the event, OGLE-2017-BLG-0448. The whole light curve exhibits long-term residuals to the static binary-lens single-source model, so we investigate the residuals by adding the microlensing parallax, microlensing xallarap, an additional lens, or an additional source. For the first time, we observe a complex degeneracy between all four effects. The wide-orbit models with $s \sim 2.5$ and a planet-to-host mass-ratio of $q \sim 10^{-4}$ are significantly preferred, but we cannot rule out the close models with $s \sim 0.35$ and $q \sim 10^{-3}$. A Bayesian analysis based on a Galactic model indicates that, despite the complicated degeneracy, the surviving wide-orbit models all contain a super-Earth-mass to Neptune-mass planet at a projected planet-host separation of $\sim 6$ au and the surviving close-orbit models all consist of a Jovian-mass planet at $\sim 1$ au. The host star is probably an M or K dwarf. We discuss the implications of this dimension-degeneracy disaster on microlensing light-curve analysis and its potential impact on statistical studies.

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arXiv2023

Simulations of Triple Microlensing Events I: Detectability of a scaled Sun-Jupiter-Saturn System

Up to date, only 13 firmly established triple microlensing events have been discovered, so the occurrence rates of microlensing two-planet systems and planets in binary systems are still uncertain. With the upcoming space-based microlensing surveys, hundreds of triple microlensing events will be detected. To provide clues for future observations and statistical analyses, we initiate a project to investigate the detectability of triple-lens systems with different configurations and observational setups. As the first step, in this work we develop the simulation software and investigate the detectability of a scaled Sun-Jupiter-Saturn system with the recently proposed telescope for microlensing observation on the ``Earth 2.0 (ET)'' satellite. With the same $Δχ^2$ thresholds of detecting a single planet and two planets, we find that the detectability of the scaled Sun-Jupiter-Saturn analog is about 1% and the presence of the Jovian planet suppresses the detectability of the Saturn-like planet by $\sim $13% regardless of the adopted detection $Δχ^2$ threshold. This suppression probability could be at the same level as the Poisson noise of future space-based statistical samples of triple-lenses, so it is inappropriate to treat each planet separately during detection efficiency calculations.

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arXiv2022

OGLE-2019-BLG-1470LABc: Another Microlensing Giant Planet in a Binary System?

We report the discovery and analysis of a candidate triple-lens single-source (3L1S) microlensing event, OGLE-2019-BLG-1470. This event was first classified as a normal binary-lens single-source (2L1S) event, but a careful 2L1S modelling showed that it needs an additional lens or source to fit the observed data. It is found that the 3L1S model provides the best fit, but the binary-lens binary-source (2L2S) model is only disfavoured by $Δχ^2 \simeq 18$. All of the feasible models include a planet with planet-to-host mass-ratios $10^{-3} \lesssim q \lesssim 10^{-2}$. A Bayesian analysis based on a Galactic model indicates that the planet is super-Jovian, and the projected host-planet separation is about 3 $\mathrm{au}$. Specifically, for the best-fit 3L1S model, the two stars have masses of $M_1=0.57^{+0.43}_{-0.32}M_{\odot}$, and $M_2=0.18^{+0.15}_{-0.10}M_{\odot}$, with projected separation of $1.3^{+0.5}_{-0.5}$ $\mathrm{au}$, and the planetary mass is $M_3=2.2^{+1.8}_{-1.3}M_{\rm{Jupiter}}$. For the 2L2S model, the masses of the host star and the planet are $0.55^{+0.44}_{-0.31}M_{\odot}$ and $4.6^{+3.7}_{-2.6}M_{\rm{Jupiter}}$, respectively. By investigating the properties of all known microlensing planets in binary systems, we find that all planets in binary systems published by the KMTNet survey are located inside the resonant caustics range with $q \gtrsim 2 \times 10^{-3}$, indicating the incompleteness of the KMTNet sample for planets in binary systems. Thus, planets in binary systems cannot be included in the current study of the KMTNet mass-ratio function, and a systematic search for planetary anomalies in KMTNet microlensing light curves of binary systems is needed.

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arXiv2021

Light Curve Calculations for Triple Microlensing Systems

We present a method to compute the magnification of a finite source star lensed by a triple lens system based on the image boundary (contour integration) method. We describe a new procedure to obtain continuous image boundaries from solutions of the tenth-order polynomial obtained from the lens equation. Contour integration is then applied to calculate the image areas within the image boundaries, which yields the magnification of a source with uniform brightness. We extend the magnification calculation to limb-darkened stars approximated with a linear profile. In principle, this method works for all multiple lens systems, not just triple lenses. We also include an adaptive sampling and interpolation method for calculating densely covered light curves. The C++ source code and a corresponding Python interface are publicly available.

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