A New Parameterization for Finding Solutions for Microlensing Exoplanet Light Curves

Abstract

The gravitational microlensing method of discovering exoplanets and multi-star systems can produce degenerate solutions, some of which require in-depth analysis to uncover. We propose a new parameter space that can be used to sample potential solutions more efficiently and is more robust at finding all degenerate solutions for the “central-resonant” caustic degeneracy. We identified two new parameters, k and h, that can be sampled in place of the mass ratios and separations of the systems under analysis to identify degenerate solutions. The parameter k is related to the size of the central caustic, Δξc, while h is related to the distance of a point along the k contour from log(s) = 0, where s is the projected planet-host separation. In this work, we present the characteristics of these parameters and the tests we conducted to prove their efficacy.