Limits on Galactic Planets

doi:10.1086/323141

Limits on the Abundance of Galactic Planets From 5 Years of PLANET Observations

M. D. Albrow et al 2001 ApJ 556 L113-L116 doi: 10.1086/323141

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M. D. Albrow^1,2, J. An³, J.-P. Beaulieu⁴, J. A. R. Caldwell⁵, D. L. DePoy³, M. Dominik⁶, B. S. Gaudi^3,7,8, A. Gould³, J. Greenhill⁹, K. Hill⁹, S. Kane^2,9, R. Martin¹⁰, J. Menzies⁵, R. M. Naber⁶, J.-W. Pel⁶, R. W. Pogge³, K. R. Pollard¹, P. D. Sackett⁶, K. C. Sahu², P. Vermaak⁵, P. M. Vreeswijk^6,11, R. Watson⁹ and A. Williams¹⁰ (The PLANET Collaboration)
¹ University of Canterbury, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Private Bag 4800, Christchurch, New Zealand
² Space Telescope Science Institute, 3700 San Martin Drive, Baltimore, MD 21218
³ Department of Astronomy, Ohio State University, 140 West 18th Avenue, Columbus, OH 43210
⁴ Institut d'Astrophysique de Paris, INSU CNRS, 98 bis Boulevard Arago, F-75014 Paris, France
⁵ South African Astronomical Observatory, P.O. Box 9, Observatory 7935, South Africa
⁶ Kapteyn Astronomical Institute, Postbus 800, 9700 AV Groningen, Netherlands
⁷ Institute for Advanced Study, Einstein Drive, Princeton, NJ 08540
⁸ Hubble Fellow
⁹ University of Tasmania, Physics Department, G.P.O. 252C, Hobart, Tasmania 7001, Australia
¹⁰ Perth Observatory, Walnut Road, Bickley, Perth 6076, Australia
¹¹ Astronomical Institute "Anton Pannekoek," University of Amsterdam, Kruislaan 403, 1098 SJ Amsterdam, Netherlands

ABSTRACT. We search for signatures of planets in 43 intensively monitored microlensing events that were observed between 1995 and 1999. Planets would be expected to cause a short-duration (~1 day) deviation on the smooth, symmetric light curve produced by a single lens. We find no such anomalies and infer that less than one-third of the ~0.3 M stars that typically comprise the lens population have Jupiter mass companions with semimajor axes in the range of 1.5 AU < a < 4 AU. Since orbital periods of planets at these radii are 3-15 yr, the outer portion of this region is currently difficult to probe with any other technique.

Subject headings: gravitational lensing; planetary systems; stars: late-type; stars: low-mass, brown dwarfs; techniques: photometric

Print publication: Issue 2 (2001 August 1)
Received 2000 August 7, accepted for publication 2001 July 9
Published 2001 July 16

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Limits on the Abundance of Galactic Planets From 5 Years of PLANET Observations

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