Search for Earth-Mass Planets and Dark Matter, Too

Abstract

Gravitational microlensing is known for baryoninc dark matter searches. Here we show that microlensing also provides a unique tool for the detection of low mass planets (such as earths and neptunes) from the ground. A planetary system forms a binary lens (or, a multi-point lens), and we can determine the mass ratio of the planet with respect to the star and relative distance ($=$ separation/Einstein ring radius) between the star and planet. Such a microlenisng planet search project requires a $\approx 2$ m survey telescope, and a network of $1.5-2$ m follow-up telescopes capable of monitoring stars in the Bulge on a 24-hour basis. During the off-season of the Galactic bulge, this network can be used for dark matter search by monitoring the stars in the LMC and SMC.

5 pages, submitted to the Proceedings of the Second International Symposium on Sources and Detection of Dark Matter in the Universe

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• Astrometric Properties of Gravitational Binary-Microlens Events and Their Applications
• On the Nature and Location of the Microlenses
• Detection of Extrasolar Planets by Gravitational Microlensing
• On the Astrometric Behavior of Binary Microlensing Events