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

Abstract

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.

Published in Science

References in corpus (80)

• SciPy 1.0--Fundamental Algorithms for Scientific Computing in Python
• emcee: The MCMC Hammer
• Gaia Data Release 3: Summary of the content and survey properties
• A method for optimal image subtraction
• Towards a Deterministic Model of Planetary Formation I: a Desert in the Mass and Semi Major Axis Distributions of Extra Solar Planets
• The NASA Exoplanet Archive: Data and Tools for Exoplanet Research
• Models of Giant Planet formation with migration and disc evolution
• The HARPS search for southern extra-solar planets XXXI. The M-dwarf sample
• Reddening and Extinction Toward the Galactic Bulge from OGLE-III: The Inner Milky Way's Rv ~ 2.5 Extinction Curve
• Real-Time Difference Imaging Analysis of MOA Galactic Bulge Observations During 2000
• Towards a deterministic model of planetary formation. III. Mass distribution of short-period planets around stars of various masses
• Chemical evolution of the Galactic bulge as traced by microlensed dwarf and subgiant stars. V. Evidence for a wide age distribution and a complex MDF
• OGLE-2003-BLG-262: Finite-Source Effects from a Point-Mass Lens
• Characteristics of Kepler Planetary Candidates Based on the First Data Set: The Majority are Found to be Neptune-Size and Smaller
• Frequency of Solar-Like Systems and of Ice and Gas Giants Beyond the Snow Line from High-Magnification Microlensing Events in 2005-2008
• Characterization of exoplanets from their formation I: Models of combined planet formation and evolution
• The Exoplanet Mass-Ratio Function from the MOA-II Survey: Discovery of a Break and Likely Peak at a Neptune Mass
• Improved Color-Temperature Relations and Bolometric Corrections for Cool Stars
• Expanding the Realm of Microlensing Surveys with Difference Image Photometry
• A Natural Formalism for Microlensing
• Hints for a Turnover at the Snow Line in the Giant Planet Occurrence Rate
• Difference imaging photometry of blended gravitational microlensing events with a numerical kernel
• Resolution of the MACHO-LMC-5 Puzzle: The Jerk-Parallax Microlens Degeneracy
• The New Generation Planetary Population Synthesis (NGPPS). IV. Planetary systems around low-mass stars
• Binary microlensing event OGLE-2009-BLG-020 gives a verifiable mass, distance and orbit predictions
• MOA-2009-BLG-387Lb: A massive planet orbiting an M dwarf
• MOA-cam3: a wide-field mosaic CCD camera for a gravitational microlensing survey in New Zealand
• The MACHO Project First Year LMC Results: The Microlensing Rate and the Nature of the Galactic Dark Halo
• OGLE-IV: Fourth Phase of the Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment
• Korea Microlensing Telescope Network Microlensing Events from 2015: Event-Finding Algorithm, Vetting, and Photometry
• Properties of Planetary Caustics in Gravitational Microlensing
• Microlensing with advanced contour integration algorithm: Green's theorem to third order, error control, optimal sampling and limb darkening
• Microlensing Constraints on the Frequency of Jupiter-Mass Companions: Analysis of Five Years of PLANET Photometry
• The Yale-Potsdam Stellar Isochrones (YaPSI)
• The frequency of snowline-region planets from four-years of OGLE-MOA-Wise second-generation microlensing
• Models of Accreting Gas Giant Protoplanets in Protostellar Disks
• On Planetary Companions to the MACHO-98-BLG-35 Microlens Star
• An Earth-mass Planet in a 1-AU Orbit around an Ultracool Dwarf
• Microlensing Results Challenge the Core Accretion Runaway Growth Scenario for Gas Giants
• VBBinaryLensing: a public package for microlensing light curve computation
• Synthesizing Exoplanet Demographics: A Single Population of Long-Period Planetary Companions to M Dwarfs Consistent with Microlensing, Radial Velocity, and Direct Imaging Surveys
• The Lowest Mass Ratio Planetary Microlens: OGLE 2016-BLG-1195Lb
• The Frequency of Low-Mass Exoplanets. III. Toward eta-Earth at Short Periods
• Predicting Stellar Angular Diameters from $V$, $I_C$, $H$, $K$ Photometry
• Systematic KMTNet Planetary Anomaly Search, Paper I: OGLE-2019-BLG-1053Lb, A Buried Terrestrial Planet
• Interpretation of a Short-Term Anomaly in the Gravitational Microlensing Event MOA-2012-BLG-486
• OGLE-2018-BLG-0567Lb and OGLE-2018-BLG-0962Lb: Two Microlensing Planets through Planetary-Caustic Channel
• Modeling microlensing events with MulensModel
• Systematic KMTNet Planetary Anomaly Search, Paper II: Six New $q<2\times 10^{-4}$ Mass-ratio Planets
• In situ accretion of gaseous envelopes on to planetary cores embedded in evolving protoplanetary discs
• Systematic Reanalysis of KMTNet microlensing events, Paper I: Updates of the Photometry Pipeline and a New Planet Candidate
• Mid-to-Late M Dwarfs Lack Jupiter Analogs
• Systematic KMTNet Planetary Anomaly Search. V. Complete Sample of 2018 Prime-Field
• Systematic KMTNet Planetary Anomaly Search. IV. Complete Sample of 2019 Prime-Field
• KMT-2017-BLG-0165Lb: A Super-Neptune mass planet Orbiting a Sun-like Host Star
• OGLE-2018-BLG-1011L\lowercase{b,c}: Microlensing Planetary System with Two Giant Planets Orbiting a Low-mass Star
• OGLE-2018-BLG-1700L: Microlensing Planet in Binary Stellar System
• Systematic KMTNet Planetary Anomaly Search, Paper VII: Complete Sample of $q<10^{-4}$ Planets from the First Four-Year Survey
• Systematic KMTNet Planetary Anomaly Search. VIII. Complete Sample of 2019 Subprime Field Planets
• Mass Production of 2021 KMTNet Microlensing Planets I
• Systematic KMTNet Planetary Anomaly Search, Paper III: One Wide-Orbit Planet And Two Stellar Binaries
• Spectroscopic Mass and Host-star Metallicity Measurements for Newly Discovered Microlensing Planet OGLE-2018-BLG-0740Lb
• Three microlensing planets with no caustic-crossing features
• The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. OGLE-III Photometric Maps of the Galactic Bulge Fields
• On The Existence of Planets Around the Pulsar PSR B0329+54
• OGLE-2018-BLG-0532Lb: Cold Neptune With Possible Jovian Sibling
• $Spitzer$ Parallax of OGLE-2018-BLG-0596: A Low-mass-ratio Planet around an M-dwarf
• OGLE-2019-BLG-1470LABc: Another Microlensing Giant Planet in a Binary System?
• KMT-2019-BLG-0842Lb: A Cold Planet Below the Uranus/Sun Mass Ratio
• KMT-2019-BLG-1715: planetary microlensing event with three lens masses and two source stars
• One Planet or Two Planets? The Ultra-sensitive Extreme-magnification Microlensing Event KMT-2019-BLG-1953
• KMT-2018-BLG-1025Lb: microlensing super-Earth planet orbiting a low-mass star
• Neutron Star Planets: Atmospheric processes and habitability
• Four sub-Jovian-mass planets detected by high-cadence microlensing surveys
• KMT-2018-BLG-1990Lb: A Nearby Jovian Planet From A Low-Cadence Microlensing Field
• The Optical Gravitational Lensing Experiment. Real Time Data Analysis Systems in the OGLE-III Survey
• KMT-2018-BLG-1292: A Super-Jovian Microlens Planet in the Galactic Plane
• OGLE-2018-BLG-1269Lb: A Jovian Planet With A Bright, $I=16$ Host
• OGLE-2018-BLG-0799Lb: a $q\sim 2.7\times 10^{-3}$ Planet with Spitzer Parallax
• OGLE-2018-BLG-1428Lb: a Jupiter-mass planet beyond the snow line of a dwarf star

Cited by in corpus (9)

• Systematic Reanalysis of KMTNet Microlensing Events, Paper II: Two New Planets in Giant-Source Events
• KMT-2025-BLG-1616Lb: First Microlensing Bound Planet From DREAMS
• The Brown-dwarf Desert Persists as a Mass-ratio Desert around Low-mass Stars
• Binary-lens Microlensing Degeneracy: Impact on Planetary Sensitivity and Mass-ratio Function
• TESS's First Bound Microlensing Planet: A Binary Microlensing Event Revealing a Planetary Companion toward the Galactic Plane
• A Minute-Cadence Deep Bulge Survey: First Data Release of DREAMS
• KMT-2025-BLG-1314 and KMT-2025-BLG-1392: two microlensing planetary/brown-dwarf candidates analyzed with differentiable code
• A break in planet occurrence near the pebble isolation mass should be observable by the Roman microlensing survey
• The Variable Sky Through the OGLE Eye